Xenobotanist

Arguably one of the most dangerous places, Xenobotany deals with the growth, maintenance, study, and splicing of plants. The Xenobotany laboratory consists of three rooms: the main laboratory, where you will modify plants; the storage room, where you will find two xenobotanist's lockers; the containment area, where you will grow plants; and the Hazardous Specimens room, for dangerous plants.

The Machines
In your laboratory are several machines that you will need to learn to use.

All-in-one Grinder
Reduces produce to its chemical ingredients. Insert produce; grind; remove beaker of chemicals.

Bioballistic Delivery System
Transfers a gene from a disk into a seed; the traits that the gene coded for will now be expressed in the new seed. For instance, isolating the gene that allows berries to grow in bushes, and injecting it into a wheat seed, would yield a bush that grows wheat and can be harvested repeatedly like a berry bush.

A single seed can only take so much alteration; too much, and it would be rendered sterile. The machine will prevent this from happening by refusing to alter a seed when doing so would kill it. However, fresh seeds, extracted from fresh fruit, are fully stable regardless of how much you modified the parent seed; so it is possible to completely change a plant through an iterative process of modification and growth.

Biogenerator
Generates all sorts of items from plant matter. Feed it your unwanted produce and generate food, fertilizer, construction materials, medicine, and more.

Chemical Dispenser
Dispenses chemicals into containers. Yours starts out empty, but if you order reagent cartridges, it becomes useful for making mutagen and fertilizer. Use a screwdriver to remove cartridges.

ChemMaster 3000
Isolates and bottles chemicals; makes pills. Insert a beaker of chemicals to use.

Flora Data Disk
Holds the genetic blueprint of a plant. Alone, it is not very useful. However, when used with the two machines below, it becomes a tool for splicing plants together to create a new species. Gene data stored on a disk is perfectly preserved and never decays, regardless of how many time it is spliced into a plant. To erase a disk for re-use, activate it.

Atmospherics Control System
Pipes laid along the floor of the Hazardous Specimens room and Containment area, used for dealing with plants that produce gases or have special temperature requirements. Use the gas heater or cooler to change temperature. See Atmospherics for more details.

Hydroponics Trays
Grow plants in 'em. See Guide to Hydroponics for more details.

Lysis-isolation Centrifuge
Isolates a gene from a seed. Insert a data disk and a plant seed (or a mushroom spore), open the machine's interface, and select "Process Genome" to see the plant's genome. This destroys the seed and lets you load one of the plant's twelve genes onto the disk. A genetic sample stored in the centrifuge is not stable; the more you extract from it, the more integrity it will lose, to the point where it will not be viable. Most plant genomes can survive two or three extractions before a fresh sample is needed.

NutriMax
Contains the chemicals that you will use to help manage your plants. Doing so is essentially identical to Hydroponics; but your NutriMax also carries Unstable Mutagen, which you can use to modify plants.

Seed Dispenser
Dispenses the base seeds needed for your job. Beware, however - it has limited stores, so if you want to avoid running out, you should generate new ones by extracting seeds from fruit or taking clippings from plants.

Seed Extractor
Insert produce; get a few packets of seeds.

SmartFridge
Store your fruit here. Your seeds too, if you're lazy and don't care about seeing seed stats.

Getting Started
First, follow Guide to Hydroponics to get your plants growing.

Once that's done, there are three paths you may follow:

Splice
Difficulty: Easy Potential: Low

Using the plants available to you, combine the genes to create a custom plant. The process is simple: Extract a gene from one plant using the Centrifuge and splice the gene into a second plant with the injection machine. Use the plant analyzer to figure out what changes you have made.

Mutate
Difficulty: Medium Potential: Medium

Add a mutagen to a plant's hydroponics tray or soil and watch its genes change randomly. Some plants have the potential to change subspecies, as well. Mutagens include radium and the Unstable Mutagen from your NutriMax. Mutagens can kill your plants, and some mutations are dangerous.

Design
Difficulty: High Potential: Extreme

Splicing + Mutation. Using mutation, you access the full range of possible plant genes; using splicing, create a customized plant.

Mutants & Rare Plants
Most of the plants available to you are the common plants also available in Hydroponics. These are the exceptions:

Plant Chart Mouse over any white-box text to view that trait's corresponding gene for Xenobotany. Yi = Yield. Determines how many products per harvest. Ma = Maturation time. A lower number means faster maturation time. Pr = Produce time. A lower number means faster product growth. Po = Potency. Determines the amount of reagents, and strength of special effects.

Plant Genes
Plants have twelve genes. Each gene contains several traits. When you transfer a gene, you transfer all the traits it contains.

Gas Production
Some mutant plants create gases, some of which can poison or suffocate you. Protect yourself with a gas mask and an oxygen supply, and flip the lid on a hydroponics basin to isolate a plant. Grow gas-producing plants in the Hazardous Specimens room.

K'ois
K'ois is a Vaurca delicacy which is highly poisonous because it contains phoron. When it matures, it spreads spores in a gaseous cloud that will poison anyone who inhales it. If you inhale it, call for Medical immediately. Protect yourself with a gas mask or face mask. K'ois will also inject K'ois into any nearby containers or produce. Best grown in the Hazardous Specimens room.

Spines, Explosions, and Juiciness
Plants that mutate spines can apply the chemicals they contain to anyone who touches them. Protect yourself with thick gardening gloves. Plants that explode, or are very juicy, will also spread their contents when thrown.

Vines
Plants with the "Vine" trait will spread out of their tray and onto the ground. If they're harmless plants, they're merely annoying. But beware of modifications: If they have spines, they will inject you with whatever chemical they hold.