Effects of Vitamin Water on Peroxidase Activity Levels in Radishes
Abstract: In this experiment, two radishes were treated with almost all factors the same; they received the same amount of sunlight and were watered at the same time. However one radish, the control, was watered with regular water and the other radish with Vitamin Water. It was hypothesized that the radish that had been watered with Vitamin Water would have higher peroxidase activity levels because it was under more stress than the plant that was watered with water. Through the use of such techniques as tissue prints, dot-blot assays, electrophoretic analysis, and spectrophotometric assays, peroxidase activity levels were visualized and quantified. The results were as expected; the tissue from the plant that had been treated with Vitamin Water was more purple on the tissue prints and it was spectrophotometrically determined that the plant that had been treated with Vitamin water had a higher amount of peroxidase activity than the one that was treated with water. The results proved that the hypothesis was correct; stress on a plant, Vitamin Water in this case, causes higher levels of peroxidase activity.

Introduction: Peroxidases are enzymes that use hydrogen peroxide as an electron acceptor to catalyze oxidative reactions. Peroxidase is believed to play a major role in synthesizing cell walls, preventing toxins and responding to stress. It is responsible for the purple color that is seen throughout the experiments. Peroxidase can be found in different locations in a plant in the form of isoenzymes. Many different experiments can be done to locate, visualize and quantify the activity of peroxidase enzymes. These include, tissue printing, dot-blot assays, electrophoresis, and spectrophotometry. This knowledge of what peroxidase does and how its activity levels can be detected was used to develop