Mitosis and Meiosis Lab

Introduction Part 1: A living organism is developed from a single-celled zygote through the process of mitosis. Every time mitosis occurs, the cell is divided into two new cells. It would take about 1014 mitotic cell divisions for one zygote to grow into an organism with 100 trillion cells. Cell division is important in single-celled organisms because it is how they reproduce. New cells need to be produced in order for the organism to grow. Human life, along with most other living organisms, starts out as a single-celled organism; in order for the organism to grow and develop, mitosis needs to occur. To ensure that cell division occurs successfully, it needs to pass through check points in the cell cycle. The check points are used to regulate cell activity, and if the cell has not developed enough or has something wrong with it, it will not be able to continue on through the cell cycle and will not divide. In one organism, all of the genetic material found in each cell will be exactly the same regardless of where in the body it is found. However, the reason that body cells perform different functions is because depending on what type of cell it is, some genes are turned off and others are turned on. Gene expression is controlled by specific enzymes or proteins that are made from the mRNA. An advantage of asexual reproduction in plants is that they can rely solely on themselves to reproduce. They can reproduce by themselves without the help of any other plants. This is helpful because if they are the only species left or all by themselves, reproduction will still occur. During asexual reproduction, all of the genetic material will be passed on to the offspring from the original parent cell. It is important for the DNA in a cell to be replicated before cell division so that the new DNA will be ready for each cell when the cell divides. If this did not happen, the genetic material would split up between the two new cells, but it is unlikely that it will be evenly divided and the cell would not function properly. Inside a cell, the chromosomes are arranged and moved with the help of spindle fibers. During Anaphase, the spindle fibers shorten and the chromosomes are pulled to the edge of the cell, for the daughter cells. The cell cycle is controlled by enzymes called cyclin-dependent kinases (CDK). These enzymes work with cyclin inside the cells. The cycle is able to essentially turn on or off cell division because the presence of cyclin along with the CDK is what helps the cell move through the check points. Without the presence of cyclin and CDK, the cell would not pass through the check points and division would not occur. In contrast, if there was too much cyclin and CDK the cell would not be regulated properly and it would keep on dividing.

Data Part 1:

Observed Values of Cells in Each Phase

54.95 45.06 87.92

Interphase Prophase
320.4 931.7

Metaphase Anaphase Telophase

Class Values and Chi Square Calculations

# Observed (o) Interphase Prophase Metaphase Anaphase Telophase 931.7 320.4 87.92 54.95 45.06 # Expected ( e) 1380 27 20 3 10 (o-e) 448.3 293.4 67.92 51.95 35.06 (o-e)2 200.973 86084 4613.1 2698.8 1229.2 Chi Square: (o-e)2/e 145.63 3188.3 230.66 899.6 122.92 4587.09

Conclusion Part 1: The null hypothesis of this experiment is the values labeled as the expected (e) values in the data table above. According to the data, the null hypothesis was rejected because all of the expected values were very far off from the values observed. Class data was used as opposed to individual data because it is more accurate. In the individual data collection, only small samples of cells were observed. With the class data, a larger pool of cells is observed and it is more similar to the amount of cells that would be found in the whole onion. A cell spends the most amount of time in Interphase. This is because this is where most of the cell cycle occurs and where preparation for division takes place.

Evidence of this is that the class observed 931.7 of the 1440.3 cells in Interphase; more than any other phase. Some environmental factors that would affect the time spent in the phases of mitosis in real root tips or shoots of plants is the amount of water and the amount of light. The amount of water would affect it because water is necessary for photosynthesis. The more water present means the more photosynthesis will occur and the more plant there will be. This would increase the rate of mitosis and the amount of time spent in each phase because there will be more cells that need to divide and more energy be used and broken done to go through more mitosis. The amount of light would also affect the rate of mitosis. In plants and in photosynthesis, light is used to excite electrons and trigger photosynthesis. With greater amounts of light, there will be greater amounts of energy and greater amounts of mitosis in the plant roots and shoots because the plant will be growing and dividing.