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Lab Exercise 5

This document provides instructions for an exercise to observe the stages of mitosis under a microscope using onion root tip cells. It describes the key observations that define each stage of mitosis: telophase with visible nucleus and nucleolus, prophase with condensed chromosomes, metaphase with aligned chromosomes at the equator, anaphase with separating chromosome sets, and daughter cells as the product of division. Students are asked to draw the mitosis stages and answer questions about how mitosis helps growth, why root tips are ideal specimens, what spindle fibers are made of, and which phase involves specific events like chromosome alignment or separation.

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Daks Zabate
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218 views

Lab Exercise 5

This document provides instructions for an exercise to observe the stages of mitosis under a microscope using onion root tip cells. It describes the key observations that define each stage of mitosis: telophase with visible nucleus and nucleolus, prophase with condensed chromosomes, metaphase with aligned chromosomes at the equator, anaphase with separating chromosome sets, and daughter cells as the product of division. Students are asked to draw the mitosis stages and answer questions about how mitosis helps growth, why root tips are ideal specimens, what spindle fibers are made of, and which phase involves specific events like chromosome alignment or separation.

Uploaded by

Daks Zabate
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Exercise No.

5
Mitosis
Procedure
Using the low power objective of the microscope. Locate the different cells undergoing
mitosis. Then switch to high- power objective.
Look for cells that appear to be in the different stages of cell division.
While going through the different stages. Identify and write the stage of mitosis where
the following observations are made.
Telophase - cell with very visible nucleus and nucleolus, the chromosomes appear as
fine dots within the nucleus
Prophase - cell nucleus enlarged; nucleolus no longer very visible, chromosomes appear
like short strands inside the nucleus.
Metaphase - chromosomes appear as long and this strands lined up along the center or
equator of the cell plate. (whitefish blastula)
Anaphase - two sets of separate chromosomes are seen and seemingly trying to pull
each other.
- chromosomes are now at opposite ends of the cell; middle part of the cell seems to
have a line across the center that almost divides it into two cells
Daughter cells - product of the division; appears as cells in interphase but smaller and
side by side; actually, the start of new interphase.

Results
Draw the different stages of mitosis in the boxes
Answer the following questions
1. How does mitosis help organisms to grow?
Mitosis helps organisms grow in size and repair damaged tissue. Some species of algae
are capable of growing very quickly. The giant kelp Macrocystis pyrifera can grow as
much as 30 centimeters (cm) in length in a single day.
 Some organisms can use mitosis to reproduce asexually. The offspring of asexual
reproduction are genetically identical to each other and to their parent. Most single-
celled, microorganisms reproduce asexually by duplicating their genetic material and
dividing in half. For example, phytoplankton reproduce primarily through asexual
reproduction. Some single-celled eukaryotes, including some plants and animals,
reproduce asexually in a processes called fragmentation or budding.

2. Is the root tip an ideal specimen for observing the phase of mitosis? Why?
Yes, a root tip is indeed an ideal specimen for observing the phases of mitosis. Because
root tips have a section where mitosis or cell division occurs rapidly and continuously in
growing plants. The most common root tip used is the onion root tip specimen.
3. What are spindle fibers made of?
Spindle fibers consist of microtubules that are polymeric chains made from the protein
Tubulin. They form during the Prometaphase stage of Mitosis and both the Metaphase 1
and 2 stages of Meiosis, and they originate from the centrosomes located at the poles
of the dividing cell, which help organize the microtubules as Tubulin is polymerized
4. What is the phase in which of the following occurs?
Metaphase alignment of the chromosomes at the equator
Prophase disappearance of the nuclear membrane
Telophase formation of the cell plate

Interphase formation of 2 daughter cells

Anaphase separation of sister chromatids and their movement toward opposite poles

5. How many chromosomes will each cell receive in telophase if each onion cell has
16 chromosomes?

16, because the chromosomes will be split in half. But it will still be 16 because we
count the number of chromosomes with the number of centromeres.

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