Assignment - Mitosis and Meiosis

Deadline - January 15, 2022

Name - Manav Koul

Roll number - 20201238

1. As discussed in class, perform an experiment showing that onion root tips are
essential for growth and division. (3 marks).

Write down your observations under the following heads -

1. Aim
2. Methodology
3. Results (your observations and a picture at the end of the
experiment)
4. Conclusion (what do you infer from the experiment)

Answer: I) Aim of the Experiment: To observe the difference in growth between the
roots of two differently treated onions.

II) Methodology:

● Pierce 4 toothpicks on the lower half of an onion such that a ‘+’ sign forms with
the onion salvaged in between.
● Fully fill a glass with water and use the toothpicks as a stand to just place the
onion in a way that its roots are fully submerged in the water.
● Repeat the process with another onion and leave them undisturbed for about 3-4
days.
● Take out one onion and cut its roots leaving 2-3 cm from the bottom of the onion.
 ● Place the onion back and let the two grow for another 3-4 days without any
interference.
● Observe the root lengths and report the findings.

III) Results:

-> Day 0- The onion roots are dry and must be about a centimeter long.

-> Day 4- The onion roots have elongated and both the onion roots have attained
almost the same length. However, the larger of the two onion and marginally (yet
noticeably) long roots than the smaller one. The root ends had developed cap like
structures.

- The roots of the left onion (A) were cut, leaving 3 cm from the base. The roots of the
right onion (B) were left undisturbed.
-> Day 8- Unsurprisingly, the onion B (undisturbed) showed normal growth as expected,
the roots which were just past the half glass level on day 4 now have grown along the
full height of the glass.

- What was peculiar were the roots of onion B (cut on day 4) – they didn’t seem to show
much growth. A few roots which had not been previously cut (since they were shorter
than 3 cm) had grown normally whereas the cut roots showed almost negligible growth.
IV) Conclusions:

- Through this experiment we have observed that when the growing roots of an
onion are cut, there is a noticeable shunt in its growth, so much so that the
growth appears to have been ceased/highly retarded.
- We also observe that the roots which are left undisturbed– roots of the uncut
onion (B) and some uncut roots of onion A showed expected mitotic pattern of
growth
- The reason for this growth shunt is that the regions encompassing the root cap
and area just above it are the areas of meristematic tissue i.e. regions of high
celular division.
- The growth had ceased/became negligible when these regions of mitotic growth
were cut off from the root.
 2. Using diagrams, show the different stages of meiosis in organisms A and B that
are 2N and 3N in terms of their ploidy. The haploid number of chromosomes for
all these organisms is 2. (2 marks)

Answer: Assuming that the haploid number of chromosomes for these organisms is 2,
here are the meiotic process that would occur in the two cells.

- Here is the case for a diploid organism (A), note that only one of the telophase I
daughter cells are shown for meiosis 2. The other daughter cell would undergo
the same process to ultimately generate 4 daughter cells having different genetic
material (due to crossing over).
- These daughter cells have haploid number 2 and are normal.
- Here is the case for a triploid organism (B). Here we get normal as well as highly
aneuploidic daughter cells indicating that the individuals resulting from triploid
organisms would usually be sterile.
- We get daughter cells with haploid number 2 (normal), 3 (trisomic), 1
(monosomic), 0 (nullisomic).

- This sterility feature is actually of use in fields like industrial genetic engineering
to make fruits like seedless grapes etc.

3. Chromosomal aberrations are basically errors in any one of the cell division
processes leading to abnormal numbers of chromosomes in the daughter cells.
A. List any four diseases/syndromes related to chromosomal aberrations in
mitosis and/or meiosis. (2 marks)
Answer: Any four diseases/syndromes related to chromosomal aberrations in mitosis
and/or meiosis are listed as follows:

1. Edward Syndrome- Trisomy of chromosome 18

2. Turner Syndrome- Monosomy of the X chromosome
3. Patau Syndrome- Trisomy of chromosome 13
4. Down Syndrome- Trisomy of chromosome 21

-> Here, Trisomy refers to the condition where an extra copy of the chromosome is
present in the nucleus whereas Monosomy describes the absence of a member of a
pair of chromosomes in the nucleus.

-> Henceforth, in Edward, Patau and Down Syndrome, there are 3 chromosomes
instead of the usual 2 whereas in Turner Syndrome (only in females), there is only 1 X
chromosome (45 + XO).

B. Provided that the cells I and II (diagram above) are undergoing mitosis,
identify the stages and state the number of chromosomes/chromatids
each daughter cell will ultimately have. (2 marks)
Answer: Given that the cells are undergoing Mitosis, the stages of cell cycle that cells I
and II are in are as follows:

1. Cell I
● This cell is in Late Prophase stage since the nucleus as well as the
nucleolus are absent, the centrioles have finished migrating to the
opposite poles and the chromatin fibres have condensed to form ‘X’
shaped structures called chromosomes.
● Late Prophase is also sometimes called the ‘Prometaphase’ stage. It
currently has 4 chromosomes/8 chromatids.
● After Telophase, each daughter cell would have 4 chromosomes/4
chromatids.
2. Cell II
● This cell is in Early Anaphase Stage where the chromatids have separated
and started to migrate towards the opposite poles. However, there seems
to be an anomaly with the last chromosome since the chromatids haven’t
separated.
● After Telophase, one daughter cell would have 2 chromosomes/2
chromatids whereas the other daughter cell would have 3 chromosomes/4
chromatids.

C. If cell I was undergoing Meiosis I, how would your answer change? (1

mark)

Answer: -> If cell I was undergoing Meiosis I instead, then the given stage would be
Prophase I, with the same argument that the nucleus and nucleolus have disappeared,
centrioles have migrated to the opposite poles and chromatin has condensed into
chromosomes.

-> However, the chromosomes are yet to cross-over (the major step in meiosis) hence
this could be the Late Leptotene - Early/Mid Zygotene phase just before when the
homologous chromosomes start to come together to form a synapse.

-> After the completion of Meiosis I, there would be 2 daughter cells each having 2
chromosomes/4 chromatids and after completion of Meiosis II, there would be 4
daughter cells each having 2 chromosomes/2 chromatids.

4. A bacterium divides every 35 minutes by binary fission. If a culture containing 1

million such bacterial cells per ml is grown for 4 hours and 40 minutes, what cell
concentration per ml would you expect to find at the end of this duration? Show
your calculation. (Note: Bacterial binary fission is similar to eukaryotic mitotic
division). (1 mark)

Answer: Time taken by bacterium to complete 1 cycle of binary fission i.e. mitosis = 35
mins

Total bacterial cells in culture (initially) = 106

Cell concentration = 106 per ml

Time for which the culture is grown = 4 hr 40 mins = 280 mins

Therefore, number of mitotic cycles undergone = 280/35 = 8

Hence, cell concentration after 8 binary fission cycles = 28 x 106 per ml = 256 x 106 per
ml

-> Thus, one would expect to find 256 million cells per ml after a time period of 4 hr 40
mins has elapsed.

5. Oogenesis, the process that creates female gametes, is halted at prophase I until
puberty in human females. How many chromosomes and chromatids would you
 find in the gametes of a human female baby and explain why? A chromatid is a
single copy of the genetic information, while chromosomes are counted by the
number of centromeres. (Hint: Total number of chromosomes in a human somatic
cell is 46). (1.5 marks)

Answer: -> In a human female baby, the cell cycle would be halted at the diplotene
stage of prophase I, as a result the phenomenon of dna duplication, synapsis and
crossing over would already have taken place.

-> Since the homologous chromosomes would still be intact and attached to each other
until the onset of puberty, one would expect to find 46 chromosomes/92 chromatids.

6. The given image depicts the chromosomes from a healthy mouse. Carefully
observe the image and answer the following questions (1.5 marks):
(a) What is the technical term for this image-based analysis?

Answer: The technical term for this image-based analysis is ‘Karyotype’, a schematic
diagram of the same is known as an ‘Idiogram’.

(b) Are these chromosomes from a gametic cell or a somatic cell?

Answer: These chromosomes are from a somatic cell which since the cell appears to
have a diploid genome (it would be haploid in case of a gametic cell).

(c) Based on this analysis, how many total chromosomes would you expect to find in
a normal mouse skin cell?

Answer: One would expect to find 20 pairs of chromosomes in a normal mouse

skin/somatic cell.
 7. You find a drug (drug X) in your laboratory which is known to disrupt the
formation of spindle fibers during cell division. You proceed to use this drug in
your cell samples. However, you realize later that you forgot to label the tubes
that contain drug X and its control (water). Let the tubes be named A and B.

A B

You now have the following metaphase analyses from the cells treated with the contents
of tube A and tube B, respectively.
 A B
What do you think was contained in tube A and tube B and why do you think so? ( 1
mark)

Answer: -> First of all, addition of a mitotic spindle inhibitor (such as colchicine) would
arrest the cell cycle at Metaphase meaning that the chromatids won’t separate (due to
absence of spindle fibres).

-> Now as a result, there would be no Anaphase and subsequent stages and the
affected cell won't be able to multiply i.e. complete the mitotic cycle and thus have
lesser number of cells (daughter cells).

-> It is evident that the contents of tube B has more number of cells as compared to A
which means that B must have completed its mitosis whereas the mitotic cycle of A
appears to be stalled (due to disruption of mitotic spindle formation).

-> Thus, one can conclude that tube A contained the drug X while tube B had water
(control).
 8.

Mitotic Phase (A)Number of cells (B)Percentage of all Time (min.)

cells

Prophase 14 14/27 = 51.8 % 41.44

Metaphase 5 5/27 = 18.5 % 14.84

Anaphase 3 3/27 = 11.1 % 8.88

Telophase 5 5/27 = 18.5 % 14.84

Analysis: Total Cells Counted = 62

Cells in M-Phase of the cycle= 14+5+3+5 = 27
Cells in Interphase= 27-62 = 35
Percentage of cells in interphase= (35/62)*100 = 56.45 %
Percentage of cells in M-phase= (27/62)*100 = 43.55 %.

-> If we go by theoretical logic, we know that interphase spans upto 90-93 % of the total
cell cycle time whereas the M-phase takes up the rest 5-7% time.

-> We know that the full cell cycle (Interphase + M-phase) for the onion cells takes
about 24 hrs to complete . Hence 5-7 % of 24 hr would amount to 72-100 mins, which is
inline with our experimental data of 80 minutes for the mitotic cycle.

-> It is also trivial to note that at a given instant of time, most of the cells would be in
Interphase and only a fraction would be undergoing the mitotic cycle, which is again
consistent with our findings.

-> If we ignore the cells undergoing interphase and cytokinesis, we would obtain the
data as prescribed in the data table along with their relative percentages and times.

A. From the given figure, determine the number of cells that are in each phase of
mitosis and give the number against the respective column. Once you have
finished counting and classifying all of the cells (at least 50), calculate your
numbers for the “Percentage of all cells” column (number of cells /the total
number of cells you counted *100). (1 mark)

B. Mitosis in an onion cell takes approximately 80 minutes. Use the following

equation to calculate data for your “Time (min.)” column of your data table for
each stage of mitosis: (Percentage/100) x 80. (1 mark)

C. According to your data table, which phase takes the least amount of time? Why
do you think that is the case? (1.5 marks)

Answer: According to the data table, Anaphase takes the least amount of time. This is
because it only involves the separation of chromatids via centromere splitting, as
facilitated by microtubules which shorten to bring about the polar movement of the
chromatids. Thereby making it a rapid process.

D. According to your data table, which phase of mitosis lasts the longest? Give
reasons as to why this is true. (1.5 marks)
Answer: According to the data table, Prophase takes the largest amount of time. This is
because there are a lot of changes occurring in the cell, dissolution of nuclear
membrane and the nucleolus, condensation of chromatin into chromosomes begins,
microtubule assembly and formation takes place.