BIOLOGY advanced – CAT 2 – Practical Report

Looking at Organelles

Introduction
The compound light microscope is an apparatus that aids in viewing translucent cells
of specimens. This experiment explores how a stained and unstained onion skin and
an Elodea Canadensis leaf cell appears under a compound light microscope at different
magnifications. In order to view a specimen through a compound light microscope,
light must be able to shine through the specimen so that the organelles can be
observed. Opaque specimen will not be viewable as light cannot pass through it. For
that reason, an onion skin (both stained and unstained) and a leaf of the Elodia
Canadensis was used in this experiment. A colored solution (Methylene Blue) was used
to stain the onion cell to make its organelles more visible.

Aim
To identify the organelles of an onion skin cell and an Elodea Canadensis leaf cell at
different magnifications using a microscope and to compare the two plants in terms
of its similarities and differences.

Hypothesis
The stained onion skin cell will have a clearly visible cell wall, cytoplasm and nucleus
than the unstained cell at x400 magnification due to the methylene blue (CH2)
highlighting those features. The chloroplasts of the Elodea Canadensis will also be
visible at this magnification since light will pass through the green chlorophyll.

Materials/ Method
Refer to the CAT sheet
Results

Onion Epithelial Cell - UNSTAINED Onion Epithelial Cell - STAINED (Ch4)

X400 X400
 Elodia Canadensis Cell
X400

Discussion
The use of methylene (CH2) blue changes the clear appearance of the onion cell to a
more bluish appearance according to the stained onion epithelial cell diagram in the
results section. This helped the cell wall, cell membrane and nucleus more apparent as
those organelles were not blending in with the cytoplasm than compared to the
unstained onion epithelial cell. In comparison to the Elodia Canadensis leaf, staining
was not required as light passed through the chlorophyll and illuminated the
chloroplast (Elodia Canadensis Cell diagram). The onion skin and the Elodia Canadensis
appear different because the Elodia leaf contains chloroplast (drawn green in the
results), thus giving it a green colour. An onion, which is the bulb of the plant, grow
underneath the soil and therefore light does not reach it. For that reason onion bulbs
do not contain chloroplasts and cannot photosynthesize, therefore appear colourless.
Onions photosynthesize from the shoots above ground which contain chloroplast. The
elodea leaf contain chloroplast as it is the main place of photosynthesis. The elodea
leaf appears green due to it containing chloroplast whereas the onion skin appears
colourless as it comes from underground where light does not reach.

It is often difficult to identify the nucleus in an Elodea leaf as the chloroplasts obstructs
the view when observed under a light microscope. Another reason is that the nucleus
itself is transparent and therefore when light is shined through the cells, it camouflages
with the cytoplasm. Further research has allowed in the understanding of cytoplasmic
streaming. This is the case in a healthy cell where the fluid of the cytoplasm is in motion
within the cell. Cytoplasmic streaming also makes identifying the nucleus difficult as it
is constantly moving around within the cell.

The Elodea Canadensis cell contains chloroplasts which is a very prominent structure
that is not present in the onion cell. Chloroplast is present in the Elodea cell as its leaf
is the place of photosynthesis whereas an onion cell photosynthesizes with its shoots
above ground and not the bulb itself. Staining the elodea cell was not required due to
the presence of chloroplast of which the chlorophyll within gave the cell a green
appearance. This helped with identifying the organelles as the green light passing
through the chlorophyll within the chloroplast highlighted the organelles in the cell.

The practical undertaken had no errors as everything was done to the method. This
however may be subjective with other students. This experiment would have been
better if the onion skin was larger. Dealing with a small sample of onion skin made
handling and applying it to the glass slides hard as the small sample was folding and
creasing during placement to the slide. Providing a larger sample should not affect the
experiment but make handling the onion skin easier.

Conclusion
The aim of this experiment was to identify the organelles of an onion skin cell and an
Elodea Canadensis leaf cell at different magnifications using a microscope and to
compare the two plants in terms of its similarities and differences. It was hypothesized
that the stained onion skin cell will have a clearly visible cell wall, cytoplasm and
nucleus than the unstained cell at x400 magnification due to the methylene blue (CH2)
highlighting those features. The chloroplasts of the Elodea Canadensis will also be
visible at this magnification since light will pass through the green chlorophyll. This
happened to be true when experimenting with the methylene stained onion as the cell
wall, nucleus and cytoplasm were clearly visible at x400 magnification. The chloroplast
of the Elodea Canadensis was also visible as the light passed through the chlorophyll
and illuminated it green. All of this is backed by the results what was hypothesised is
labelled in the annotations. The results show a clear view of the nucleus, cytoplasm
and cell wall in the stained onion cell and the chloroplast in the Elodia Canadensis cell.
These cell organelles are visible under a light microscope as they are not too small to
be easily detected with this type of microscope at full magnification. To identify smaller
organelles such as ribosomes, a better microscope such as an electron microscope is
required.