Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
Michelle Seywald
AP Biology
Period 1
January 1, 2010
Introduction:
1
Cells divide by two different methods: meiosis and mitosis. Mitosis is
generally used for the growth and repair of an organism, while meiosis
functions in the production of gametes or spores. Each process involves the
division of the cell’s nucleus and of the cytoplasm.
Materials:
3A.1
3
This exercise requires prepared slides of whitefish blastula and onion
root tip, and a light microscope.
3A.2
This exercise requires a prepared slide of onion root tip and a light
microscope.
3B.2
Procedures:
3A.1
4
Examine prepared slides of either onion root tips or whitefish blastula.
Locate the meristematic region of the onion, or locate the blastula, with the
10x objective and then use the 40x objective to study individual cells.
Identify one cell that clearly represents each phase. Sketch and label the cell
in the boxes provided.
3A.2
To estimate the relative length of time that a cell spends in the various
stages of cell division, examine the meristematic region of a prepared slide
of the onion root tip. The length of the cell cycle is approximately 24 hours
for the cells in actively dividing onion root tips. It is hard to imagine that one
can estimate how much time a cell spends in each phase of cell division from
a slide of dead cells, yet this is precisely what will be done in this part of the
lab. Since work will be done with a prepared slide, information about how
long it takes a cell to divide can not be obtained. Instead, the numbers of
cells in each phase will be determined. From this, the percentage of time
each cell spends in each phase can be inferred. Observe every cell in one
high-power field of view and determine which phase of the cell cycle it is in.
This is best done in pairs. The partner observing the slide calls out the phase
of each cell while the other partner records. Then switch so the recorder
becomes the observer and vice versa. Count at least two full fields of view. If
less than 200 cells have been counted, then count a third field of view.
Record the data. Calculate the percentage of cells in each phase and record.
Consider that it takes, on average, 24 hours (or 1,440 minutes) for onion root
tip cells to complete the cell cycle. The amount of time spent in each phase
of the cell cycle can be calculated from the percentage of cells in that stage.
3B.2
View the slide and locate a group of hybrid asci (those containing both
tan and black ascospores). Count at least 50 hybrid asci and enter the data
in Table 3.3. Using the data in Table 3.3, determine the distance between the
gene for spore color and the centromere. Calculate the percentage of
crossovers by dividing the number of crossover asci (2:2:2:2 or 2:4:2) by the
total number of asci x100. To calculate the map distance, divide the
percentage of crossover asci by 2. The percentage of crossover asci is
divided by 2 because only half of the spores in each ascus are the result of a
crossover event. Record the results in Table 3.3.
5
Results:
3A.1
Sketches attached.
Analysis Questions:
6
1. Explain how mitosis leads to two daughter cells, each of
which is diploid and genetically identical to the original cell.
What activities are going on in the cell during interphase?
2. How does mitosis differ in plant and animal cells? How does
plant mitosis accommodate a rigid inflexible cell wall?
Table 3.1
Questions:
2. Based on the data in Table 3.1, what can you infer about the
relative length of time and onion root tip cell spends in each
stage of cell division?
8
3. Draw and label a pie chart of the onion root tip cell cycle
using the data from Table 3.1
3B.1
Mitosis Meiosis
Chromosome Number
Diploid (2n) Diploid (2n)
of Parent Cells
Number of DNA
1 1
Replications
Number of Divisions 1 2
Number of Daughter
2 4
Cells Produced
Chromosome Number
Diploid (2n) Haploid (n)
of Daughter Cells
Production of
Purpose/Function Growth and repair
gametes
9
3. How are meiosis I and meiosis II different?
3B.2
Table 3.3
Analysis of Results:
2.
Meiosis 1
Meiosis 2
10
Data Analysis:
3A.1:
3A.2:
3B.2:
11
This exercise focuses on calculating the map units between a
specific gene and the centromere by observing the frequency of
crossover asci from the fungus Sordaria fimicola. There was limited
room for error, since the images of the hybrid asci were already
prepared and the student needed only to tally the number of 4:4 and
crossover asci. However, if there was difficulty differentiating between
crossovers and non crossovers, or certain asci were counted more than
once, the results may have been skewed.
Conclusion:
12