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    Mitosis in Onion Root Tip Cells Lab

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    James Dauray
    Onion root tip cells are ideal for studying mitosis. This is the part of the plant that is experiencing the most division, as it grows roots into the soil. As plant cells, they also have cell walls that are thick enough to distinguish easily one cell to another. In this lab, students will count the number of cells in interphase, as well as the different stages of mitosis within a view of the microscope. Based on these counts, they will calculate the expected amount of time a cell spends in each stage. This lab is effective at emphasizing the overwhelming likeliness of cells to be in the interphase stage.

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    Mitosis in Onion Root Tip Cells Lab

    Uploaded by

    James Dauray
    3K views3 pages
    Onion root tip cells are ideal for studying mitosis. This is the part of the plant that is experiencing the most division, as it grows roots into the soil. As plant cells, they also have cell walls that are thick enough to distinguish easily one cell to another. In this lab, students will count the number of cells in interphase, as well as the different stages of mitosis within a view of the microscope. Based on these counts, they will calculate the expected amount of time a cell spends in each stage. This lab is effective at emphasizing the overwhelming likeliness of cells to be in the interphase stage.

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    Onion root tip cells are ideal for studying mitosis. This is the part of the plant that is experiencing the most division, as it grows roots into the soil. As plant cells, they also have cell walls that are thick enough to distinguish easily one cell to another. In this lab, students will count the number of cells in interphase, as well as the different stages of mitosis within a view of the microscope. Based on these counts, they will calculate the expected amount of time a cell spends in each stage. This lab is effective at emphasizing the overwhelming likeliness of cells to be in the interphase stage.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    3K views3 pages

    Mitosis in Onion Root Tip Cells Lab

    Uploaded by

    James Dauray
    Onion root tip cells are ideal for studying mitosis. This is the part of the plant that is experiencing the most division, as it grows roots into the soil. As plant cells, they also have cell walls that are thick enough to distinguish easily one cell to another. In this lab, students will count the number of cells in interphase, as well as the different stages of mitosis within a view of the microscope. Based on these counts, they will calculate the expected amount of time a cell spends in each stage. This lab is effective at emphasizing the overwhelming likeliness of cells to be in the interphase stage.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
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    Name: _______________________ Class: __________________ Date: _________________

    Mitosis in Onion Root Tip Cells


    Introduction
    Mitosis is the process by which the cell nucleus is divided into two nuclei. Mitosis takes place in four phases: prophase, metaphase, anaphase, and telophase. The period between one mitosis and the next is called interphase. Chromosome replication occurs during interphase. Organisms such as the common intestinal bacteria E. coli can complete mitosis in 30 minutes. Other cells require days. In some cells, such as human muscle cells, mitosis never occurs. In this investigation, you will determine the time required for plant cells to go through each phase of mitosis.

    Problem
    How can the time needed for each phase of mitosis be determined in a plant cell?

    Materials
    Textbook (or mitosis notes handout) Prepared slide of plant mitosis (onion root tip) Microscope Calculator

    Safety
    Handle all glassware carefully. Always handle the microscope with extreme care. You are responsible for its proper care and use. Use caution when handling glass slides as they can break easily and cut you.

    Practice
    1. Take a prepared onion root-tip slide. 2. Focus the slide under high (40X) power. Find a cell in interphase and each of the stages of mitosis. Draw one cell to represent each stage below.

    Interphase

    Prophase

    Metaphase

    Biology Teaching Resources

    http://www.aurumscience.com

    Page 1

    Anaphase

    Telophase

    Procedure
    3. Review the phases of mitosis by studying that section of your notes. 4. Place the prepared onion root tip slide on the stage of the microscope. Using the low-power objective, focus on the cells just above the tip of the root. Switch to high power and count the total number of cells in the field of view. 5. Without changing the field of view, count the number of cells in each stage of mitosis: prophase, metaphase, anaphase, and telophase. Also record the number of cells in interphase. 6. To determine the approximate proportion of time a cell spends in each phase of mitosis, use the following formula: Hours spent in stage = 24 x Number of Cells in Stage Total Number of Cells Counted

    Data
    Phase of Mitosis Number of Cells in Phase Class Total Number of Cells in Phase Calculated Duration (hours)
    (24 x number of cells in stage / total cells in view)

    Interphase Prophase Metaphase Anaphase Telophase

    Page 2

    Graph 1: Bar graph of the number of cells in each phase of mitosis (class data)

    Graph 2: Pie chart of the hours of the day spent in each phase of mitosis (out of 24 hours)

    Analysis
    1. In which phase of mitosis is the most time spent? The least? 2. Based on your results, about what percent of a cells life is spent in interphase versus mitosis? 3. Interphase is sometimes called the resting stage. Explain why this is inaccurate.

    4. What form does DNA take during interphase? What does it look like?

    5. What form does DNA take during mitosis? What does it look like?

    Page 3

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