Times Reporter
  • Applied Science: Main class of rooting hormone?

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  • The New Philadelphia Science Club is back with another science question in The Times-Reporter. Each week a new science-related question will be given, and everyone is invited to participate by either mailing the answer to the club at the address below or simply emailing the answer to the address given. At the end of the school year several winners will be chosen from all the correct entries submitted to receive a prize. To participate in this drawing, please send your answer to:
    New Philadelphia High School-Room 331
    343 Ray Ave. NW
    New Philadelphia, OH 44663
    Email answers to Houmards@npschools.org
    Last week's answer
    The correct answer to last week's question was b. cytosine and guanine. In base pairing of DNA cytosine (C) and guanine (G) always pair with each other, whereas adenine (A) and thymine (T) pair with each other. The type of bonds that hold the bases together are called hydrogen bonds. These base pairs are what make-up the "steps" of the DNA "ladder."
    This week's question
    NPHS Science Club was sent a very interesting letter. The letter provided a thought-provoking question that we will answer this week. The question was about seedless grapes. The author wanted to know how seedless grapes come into being, if seeds are the way that plants reproduce. From our research, we found out that most fruits today do not come from seeds. They come from cuttings that produce clones instead. This is true of many grapes, blueberries, apples, cherries, etc. A piece of a vine or branch is cut off, dipped in rooting hormone and then placed in moist dirt so that roots and leaves form. Because they come from cuttings, new grapevines are essentially clones of the vine from which they were cut. Seedless grapes actually do contain seeds at some point. But a genetic error prevents the seeds from forming hard outer coats like normal seeds do. Humans keep producing grapes with this same gene (DNA) for seeds that don't develop. So, this week's question is what is the main class of rooting hormone mentioned above?
    A. Auxins
    B. Axial
    C. Sulfur dioxide
    D. Axons
    Science Club would also like to mention that if any other readers have interesting questions that we can try to answer please send them by email or regular mail to the address above.
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