Correct response to the essay:
- why non-transformed seedlings are still able to grow in the presence of kanamycin?
They do so as at early stages of plant development, they may still depend on endosperm resources and stored energy. When these internal resources are depleted, they then fail to generate energy due to kanamycin action in protein synthesis of prokaryotic type.
Kanamycin (and its relatives in the aminoglycoside family of antibiotics) bind directly to the ribosomal RNA and both inhibit initiation of translation and induce mistakes in amino acid incorporation.
MOSCHOU LAB 