Plant Tissue Culture

Exercise 3A is a study of mitosis. You will simulate the stages of mitosis by using chromosome models.You will use prepared slides of onion root tips to study plant mitosis and to calculate the relative duration of the phases of mitosis in the meristem of root tissue. Prepared slides of the whitefish blastula will be used to study mitosis in animal cells and to compare animal mitosis and plant mitosis.

The cross-sections demonstrated the basic differences that distinguish a monocot plant for a dicot plant. When looking at the cross-section of the monocot stem you can see that the vascular bundles are scattered. These vascular bundles consist of only a phloem and xylem. The phloem is responsible for transporting soluble compounds (food) created by photosynthesis, to the rest of the plant, especially where they are needed. The xylem is important for the movement of water throughout the plant. Another difference that can be seen by looking at the cross-section of at stem is that the ground tissue (parenchyma) is not partitioned into pith and cortex. In the dicot stem cross-section the vascular bundles form a ring and they are made up of a phloem, xylem, and a cambium which divides the two. The ground tissue (parenchyma) for a dicot is separate into a pith (nutrient storage and distribution) and a cortex (conducting tissues). The Leaf cross-sections reveal the venation of each plant. For monocots, the veins appeared run parallel to each other, while the veins for the dicot plant had no clear pattern. The root cross-sections also displayed differences between the groups belonging to the phylum Anthophyta. The root cross-section of a monocot is formed by vascular bundles that are arrange in a ring. In the dicot root cross-section, the xylem is at the center in the form of an

In the novel, The Botany of Desire, Michael Pollan tells the intriguing story of how plants are domesticated from the perspective of the plant with regards to four specific plants.. The four plants he chose for discussion are the apple, the tulip, marijuana, and the potato. As he discusses the domestication of these plants, his overall focus is the desire that each of these plants have to us as humans. Pollan has written books and magazine articles among other pieces of literature that discuss the relationship between plants and humans. Throughout this informational text, Pollan tries to keep the perspective from the “plant’s-eye view of the world,” but he often slips into Pollan’s eye view of the world. As he talks about experiences that he has had with each of these plants and gives a little bit of their history, it was often hard to stay focused on the topic that he was trying to convey. However, I found that the perspectives that Pollan brings up are interesting to think about. The Botany of Desire was an interesting journal type informational novel that didn’t quite live up to my expectations of what it could have been.

Asexual Propagation is the process of using plant materials such as the stems, leaves, and roots to multiply the number of plants. These plants eventually grow to be a brand new plant that is genetically identical to the parent plant it came from. In several types of plants, asexual propagation is the fastest means of new plant growth. Asexual propagation is also a good way to maintain a plant species because they are genetically identical. In this process, adventitious roots are seen in the growing cycle. Adventitious roots are those that grow form parts of the plant that they normally would not grow from. The cuttings must do

The results observed do not correspond with the outcome predicted by the hypothesis. Despite the nature of the subjects of the experiments, no substantial growth was observed. Only one seed of the 36 planted germinated, and it could only survive for a period of a week. The one seed that germinated reach a height of 1.2 cm. Table 1 presents the average growth observed in each quad. Each quad had a total of 12 seeds. No seeds were removed during the course of the experiment.

To solve this problem our group placed stakes next to each plant in the pots and used wire to provide the plants with support to grow upright and stay in place. Furthermore, to prevent crosspollination with another groups plants all of our plants where covered with pollination bags. In addition, our plants were given 1-2 inches of water constant for 29 days and place in a room that provided fluorescent light for 24 hours a day to get our plants to grow at their full potential. After a couple weeks of plant growth the flowers where then able to pollinate to perform this procedure we used a tool called a chenille rod or “bee stick” where we would lightly touch the anthers of the flowers with the bee stick and transfer the pollen on the stick between the P1 and P2 plants. During weeks 7 and 8 watering of our plants stopped to allow our plants to dry under light before the seeds can be collected from the pods. Once the seeds were ready to be collected they were harvested in dry pods over a petri dish and allowed to germinate in a filer paper within the petri dish. Once our seeds where settled in neat rows we kept it well light and moist at all times and recorded our findings (CSUF,

might affect the fitness of each variant. In other words which factors might increase plant growth, survival,

To produce different plants, genetic cross-breeding is performed, as well as using different techniques for growing the plant.

Bees would collect food resources from the plant and in return the reproduction of the plants)

To observe mitosis in onion root tip cells and record the different phases of mitosis.

Root development from the seed developing downwards to give more sub roots then they develop into a hair like substance it reamains connected as the stem is growing up and after that it breaks the dirt and creates takes off.

The tobacco plant like many plants contain a cell callus. A cell callus contains somatic undifferentiated cells and can be used to differentiate into specialized tissues of the tobacco plant, or any plant used, by being induced with the addition of different types of hormones, such as cytokinin and auxin. Cytokinin and auxin are mostly used in plant tissue culture simultaneously to provoke the formation of a plantlet or callus. There is a common use of Kinetin in plant tissue culture since when added it will promote cell division to initiate shoot tissues from calluses of the plant. Kinetin is a type of cytokinin hormone. In regards to auxin related hormones, Indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) is also commonly used since it promotes the initiation of roots for the root tissue of the plant. In this

This procedure has also been performed successfully in the lab with dicots, broadleaf plants, soybeans and tomatoes for many years. Through this procedure, the desired gene and marker is inserted into the tDNA of the plasmid. Tissues of the organism are then transferred to a medium containing an antibiotic or herbicide in order to tell if the organism has successfully taken up the desired gene because only the tissues expressing the marker will survive. These tissues are then grown under controlled environmental conditions in tissue cultures containing nutrients and hormones so that whole plants are grown. When plants are grown and have produced seed, an evaluation of the progeny is done making sure that the desired traits have been passed on (Understanding GMOs).

Making the onion tip root cell slide was successful. Our results supported the hypothesis because we saw cells in the onion root tip in prophase, metaphase, and anaphase. As we went up in power objectives, each phase of the cell became more definitive. The cell root was a great indicator of the structures of the different cycles of the cell. This is important because we will be prepared for future labs working with the microscopes and can now adjust it for the best view of the slide. We practiced working with the compound light microscopes and different phases of the cell cycle. Onion root tips are useful to observe mitosis because the cells are frequently diving as the root grows. So when we stained the cell, we caught many cells in different phases. The significance of this lab was to better understand the process and stages of mitosis and meiosis and compare and contrast the mitotic process in plants and animals. We grasped the concepts of what the chromosomes look like, and what they look like in each step of the processes. Having read much about mitosis and meiosis, seeing these cells was the real application of describing and understanding the stages.

This data shows a strange outcome, in the hypothesis; it says that “If acid is introduced to the seed during germination, then the roots will not grow as long as the seeds that are given water”. This statement proves to be untrue, because the roots grew longer with stronger acid than weaker acid, and in some, cases, grew better with strong acid than it did in water. This may be true because of the acid growth theory. The acid growth theory states that auxins cause the elongation of stem cells by promoting wall loosening. It was determined that this wall loosening is caused by hydrogen ions. This idea and subsequent supporting data gave rise to the acid growth theory, which states that when exposed to auxins, susceptible cells excrete protons into the wall at an enhanced rate, which in turn decreases the pH in the wall. The lowered wall pH then activates the wall loosening process which is essentially doing the same thing as the auxin hormone.