Cell Division, Sexual Life Cycles, and Making

Biological Drawings
1. Introduction
Many simple organisms reproduce by dividing in half, therefore producing two
identical offspring. This is easy to do, but there is little to no variation in the new
cells. The most important part of this type of cell division is that the genome must be
divided first and the cytoplasm is divided thereafter; this division of the cytoplasm is
known as cytokinesis.
Eukaryotes have developed a more complex type of reproduction where the
individuals produce gametes, egg and sperm, which will join to produce a new
individual. Two processes in sexual life cycles are meiosis and fertilization, or
syngamy. Sexual life cycles generally have two stages, one that is haploid (n),
meaning having one set of chromosomes, and one that is diploid (2n), meaning
having two sets of chromosomes. Individuals produce gametes that will later fuse
through fertilization or syngamy. Fertilization involves two steps, plasmogamy: the
fusion of the cytoplasm, and karyogamy: the fusion of the nuclei.
In the process of meiosis, the chromosomes are reduced by half. Without this
reduction, the new cell resulting from fertilization, or zygote, would have twice the
genetic material. The diploid phase undergoes meiosis to produce the haploid phase,
and syngamy occurs to create a new diploid phase.
Some organisms, like many of the fungi, have a third phase called dikaryotic (n + n),
which is a cell that contains two haploid nuclei from each parent, but the nuclei do not
fuse right away.

2. Mitosis
Mitosis in multicellular organisms is used for growth, the replacement of old or dead
cells, the repair of damaged cells, and for asexual reproduction. In order for a cell to
use mitosis, it must first duplicate its DNA through the process of replication so that
each new cell will have a copy of the DNA. Next, the DNA must be separated,
followed by cytokinesis. Mitosis is divided into phases to describe the sequence of
events occurring within the cell and to make mitosis easier to study. These phases
are known as prophase, metaphase, anaphase, and telophase. Sometimes a
fifth phase called prometaphase is used; this phase is nothing more than a grouping
of the later part of prophase with the early part of metaphase. When a cell is not in
mitosis, it is in interphase, which is when a cell will spend a majority of its lifetime.
Below is a description of what occurs during each phase of mitosis in both plant and
animal cells.
Prophase: Chromosomes become visible and the nuclear envelope dissolves.
The mitotic spindle attaches to each chromosome.
Metaphase: When the mitotic spindle is complete and the chromosomes are
moved to the center of the cell so they line up along the metaphase plate.

 Anaphase: The chromosomes are separated into their sister chromatids. These
sister chromatids are pulled to opposite sides of the cell.
Telophase: The nuclei of the daughter cells form while the cell is divided.

Exercise 1 Observation of mitosis in plants

Obtain a prepared slide of Alium sp. root tip. The growth of the stem and root tips
is called primary growth and occurs in the apical meristems of the roots and stems.
In this exercise you will view the root tip of the onion plant, Alium sp., and diagram
all each phase of mitosis and interphase.
Activity 1 Identification and drawing the phases of cell division
View the slide under your microscopes, making sure you look at the root tip (pointy
end). Identify the cells in interphase, prophase, metaphase, anaphase, and
telophase. Once you find each phase, make a sketch of each for your lab
notebook. Put all 5 sketches on a single page of biology paper.
Activity 2 Estimation of phases
Randomly sample 100 cells in the root tip and identify what phases they are in
(including interphase). Complete the table below to get an estimate as to the
amount of time the root cells are in each phase.

Table 1 Estimation of phases from the root tip of Alium sp.

Number
Counted

100

100%

Interphase
Prophase
Metaphase
Anaphase
Telophase

3. Meiosis

Cells that undergo meiosis do two divisions that produce 4 daughter cells. Meiosis is
often known as reduction-division since all daughter cells have half the number of
chromosomes as the parent cell. In the first division, or meiosis 1, the chromosome
number is reduced by half, therefore the two resulting cells are haploid (reduction).
The second division simply separates sister chromatids (division). Below is a
description of the major events in meiosis.

Prophase 1: Chromosomes form and the nuclear envelope dissolves. As the

chromosomes move within the cytoplasm, homologous chromosomes may
overlap and exchange genetic material through a process called crossing
over.

Metaphase 1: Homologous chromosome pairs, or tetrads, line up along the

metaphase plate

Anaphase 1: Spindles separate the tetrads while leaving the sister chromatids
attached

Telophase 1: Cell divides into 2 haploid daughter cells.

Prophase 2: Spindle forms and attaches to each chromosome

Metaphase 2: Chromosomes line up along the metaphase plate.

Anaphase 2: The chromosomes are separated into their sister chromatids.

These sister chromatids are pulled to opposite sides of the cell.

Telophase 2: The cell is divided and the nuclei of the daughter cells form.

Exercise 1 Mitosis/Meiosis Review

Compare and/or contrast mitosis and meiosis by placing a check in the appropriate
box or entering the correct answer.

Feature
Preceded by the replication of DNA
Involves reduction division
Involves the Law of Independent Assortment
Involves crossing over
All centromeres lie on the metaphase plate
during metaphase?
Homologous pairs of chromosomes lie on the
metaphase plate
Chromatids separate and move to opposite
sides of the cell during anaphase
Homologous pairs separate and move to
opposite sides of the cell during anaphase
What is the number of daughter cells
generated from the parent cell?
Do the daughter nuclei have the same
nuclear condition as the parent cell?
Do the daughter cells have half the number of
chromosomes as the parent cell?
Do the daughter cells have the same, exact
chromosomes as the parent cell?
Do the daughter cells have entirely new
combinations of chromosomes as the parent
cell?

Mitosis

Meiosis
I

Meiosi
s II

4. Life Cycles
Learning life cycles of algae and plants in a good way of organizing the history an
organism goes through during its lifetime. It is important for you to compare the
variations in the stages and the variety of structures, which illustrates the diversity in
organisms. For each life cycle, you need to remember what each phase looks like,
learn the terms for the structures, know what morphological stages precede and
follow any structure in the life cycle, and any variation in the processes in meiosis and
syngamy.

Exercise 1 Answer the following questions

1.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of sexual reproduction?

2.

Why is meiosis also known as reduction division?

3.

What are some major differences between the processes of meiosis and mitosis?

4.

Why do you think the gametophyte is called a gametophyte and the sporophyte is
called a
sporophyte?

5.

6.

Describe ways in which variation in achieved in meiosis.

Make a generalized sketch of alternation of generation for your lab notebook.

5.

Making Biological Drawings

The purpose of making biological drawings during laboratory exercises is so you have
a record of observations, both macroscopic and microscopic. The accuracy of these
drawings is the most important feature, not the quality of the drawing. The drawing
is a tangible record of your observation and can be used to correct any error or
inaccurate observations and impressions.
No inherent artistic talent or special ability is required to create biological drawings of
the type required in this course. You will be able to take what you have learned here
and apply them to more complicated drawings in future courses. Using pencils with
a hard lead, 3H or 4H types, draw with continuous lines or dots. Do not sketch or
make impressionistic drawings. Later you will use a special pen to add details to
these drawings. Your drawings should be large enough to permit accurate
representation of the required details, meaning no more than 2 drawings per page
unless instructed otherwise.
Materials needed (all available in the bookstore)
Biology paper
3H or 4H pencil
6 or 12 clear plastic ruler with metric measurements
Pigma Micron pen 005 (.2mm) pen by Sakura
Format for each page
1. Your name and date printed in the upper right hand corner.
2. A horizontal line drawn one inch from the top across the page
3. A vertical line drawn two inches from the right side of the page
4. No more than two drawings per page unless instructed otherwise and only use
the front side of the page.
5. A printed title at the top, within the one-inch margin, that describes the
drawings contained on that page.
6. A printed subtitle under each drawing made that identifies that drawing
specifically.
7. The magnification at which the drawing was made, just to the right of the
subtitle.
8. Appropriate labels printed within the two-inch margin on the right of the page
with a straight, ruled line pointing to the item to be labeled. Do not to cross

lines from different labels. If a specific drawing has many labels, you may
spread them around the drawing rather than within the margin.

Exercise 1 Cellular Morphology

Morphology refers to the shape of an object or organism. As you investigate
various Kingdoms and Phyla, one of the ways to differentiate and describe the
organisms is by their morphology. Some of the terms used to describe the
morphology of microscopic organisms such as bacteria, algae, and fungi include
unicellular, colonial, and filamentous. Unicellular organisms exist as a single
cell. Colonial organisms are a group of unicellular organisms that exist together
as one unit. Filamentous refers to organisms that are long and thread-like or
many unicellular organisms that form a chain.
Throughout the semester you will see various examples of all of these
morphologies, and more. For the following exercises you may put all three
drawings on the same page.
Activity 1 Unicellular Organisms Obtain a prepared slide of a bacterial
smear and draw a few cells while viewing under high power.
Activity 2 Colonial Organisms Obtain a prepared slide of Volvox, draw
and label a colony.
Activity 3 Filamentous Organisms Obtain a prepared slide of
Oedogodium and draw a few filaments.

Exercise 2 General Plant Cell Morphology

Typical plant cells are rectangular and form sheets similar to brick walls. Each cell
is surrounded by a cell wall made of a complex carbohydrate called cellulose.
Each wall has perforations called plasmodesmata that allow for movement of
products and resources between cells. In this activity you will look at the general
shape and orientation of plant cells.
Activity 1 General Plant Cells Make a wet mount of onion cells by
carefully removing the very thin, translucent layer off of the convex side of the
onion. Add a drop of iodine to the slide before you add the coverslip. View the
slide and make a drawing of a few cells labeling the cell wall, nucleus, and
cytoplasm.