Professional Documents
Culture Documents
A.
Equipment
Your
lab
instructor
will
provide
you
with
root
tips
from
the
appropriate
treatment
and
control
specimens
that
were
prepared
by
our
hard-‐working
Lab
Manager
as
per
the
specifications
of
your
team’s
research
protocol
(as
corrected
by
your
lab
instructor).
PLEASE
DO
NOT
HANDLE
ANY
OF
THE
ONIONS
IN
THE
LAB!
THESE
HAVE
BEEN
CAREFULLY
PREPARED
FOR
EACH
LAB
RESEARCH
TEAM,
AND
NO
ONE
SHOULD
BE
TOUCHING
THEM
OR
HANDLING
THEM
EXCEPT
THE
GRADUATE
LABORATORY
INSTRUCTOR.
As
before,
your
team
will
have
available
the
following
equipment
and
materials
available.
compound
microscope
dissecting
microscope
microscope
slides
cover
slips
Before
you
begin
you
should
make
sure
that
all
of
your
materials
(beakers,
plants,
microscope
slides)
are
properly
labeled.
Microscope
slides
should
be
labeled
as
treatment
or
control
and
with
the
treatment
start-‐
time.
Your
team
may
have
10-‐20
slides
out
at
any
time,
so
it
is
important
to
label
everything
properly!
1.
Snap
an
entire
healthy
root
from
an
onion.
The
root
tip
is
the
most
delicate
part
of
the
root
and
it
desiccates
very
easily.
You
will
need
healthy,
living
cells,
so
keep
your
onion
root
wet
at
all
times!
Do
not
leave
onion
roots
out
of
the
water
or
lying
on
the
lab
bench.
2.
Place
the
root
on
your
labeled
slide.
Using
the
dissecting
scope,
identify
the
root
tip.
In
plants,
mitotic
division
occurs
in
the
meristem
cells,
which
can
differentiate
into
any
other
type
of
cell.
The
apical
(i.e.,
located
at
the
apex,
or
tip)
meristem,
is
about
one
millimeter
from
the
apparent
tip
of
the
root
(the
root
cap)
(Figure
2).
If
you
cut
off
too
much
of
the
root,
you
will
see
long,
rectangular
cells
in
your
squash.
These
cells
are
no
longer
undergoing
mitosis,
so
you
should
not
use
or
count
them.
Carefully
cut
off
just
the
meristematic
region
of
the
root
tip
with
a
sharp
razor
blade,
and
use
that
for
your
squash.
Figure
2a.
Onion
root
tip
anatomy.
Only
the
cells
at
the
Figure
2b.
Root
tip
of
corn
(Zea
mays).
Note
very
tip
of
the
root
(Zone
of
Cell
Division)
are
the
clear
appearance
of
the
root
cap.
Just
undergoing
mitosis.
These
are
visually
distinct
in
a
fresh
above
it
is
the
apical
meristem
and
the
Zone
of
root
tip,
appearing
more
round
or
square
than
the
Cell
Division.
The
darker,
longitudinal
lines
elongated
cells
in
the
Zone
of
Elongation
above
it.
above
the
cell
division
zone
mark
the
newly
(Campbell,
2005)
formed
vascular
cambium.
3.
Place
a
drop
or
two
of
HCl
on
the
root
tip.
The
HCl
will
soften
the
connections
between
the
cell
walls
and
allow
the
root
to
be
flattened
into
a
single
cell
layer.
4.
After
10-‐15
minutes,
place
a
Kimwipe
on
the
edge
of
your
HCl
puddle
to
wick
away
as
much
of
the
liquid
as
possible.
5.
Place
a
drop
or
two
of
acetocarmine
stain
on
the
root
tip.
Let
the
root
tip
sit
in
the
stain
for
15-‐20
minutes.
You
may
occasionally
prod
the
root
tip
with
a
dissecting
pin.
The
iron
in
the
pin
can
help
darken
the
stain,
but
may
make
the
stain
too
dark
if
you
prod
too
much.
Do
not
let
the
acetocarmine
completely
dry
up.
((Caution!
Acetocarmine
is
caustic
and
corrosive!
Handle
with
care,
and
flush
well
with
clean
water
if
you
get
any
on
your
skin
or
clothing.
Acetocarmine
may
stain
skin
and
permanently
stain
clothing.)
Acetocarmine
will
allow
you
to
clearly
see
mitotic
chromosomes.
(Figure
3)
Figure 3. Allium root tip cells undergoing mitotic division, stained with
acetocarmine stain.
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d3/Onion_root_mitosis.jpg)
6.
Now
it’s
time
to
squash
your
root.
Place
a
clean
plastic
coverslip
over
your
root.
Over
the
coverslip,
place
a
Kimwipe
to
soak
up
excess
stain
that
leaks
out
and
to
protect
your
coverslip
from
fingerprints.
8. Place the slide on the platform of your compound microscope.
9.
Starting
at
the
lowest
objective,
focus
on
your
slide.
Examine
your
squash.
You
should
be
able
to
see
cells
in
various
stages
of
mitosis.
(Figure
4)
Figure
4.
A
well-‐executed
squash
performed
in
lab
by
a
BIL
151
student.
The
elongated
(non-‐mitotic)
cells
in
the
upper
left
quadrant
should
not
be
counted,
as
they
are
no
longer
undergoing
mitosis.
The
cells
should
be
round
or
square
and
flattened
into
a
single
cell
layer.
The
darkened
nuclei
of
these
cells
will
be
large
and
appear
to
take
up
most
of
the
space
inside
the
cell.
Ask
your
instructor
to
look
at
your
slide
if
you’re
not
sure
you
have
a
good
squash.
At
the
highest
magnification
(400x),
you
will
be
able
to
identify
whether
the
cells
are
undergoing
mitosis.
Look
at
an
area
that
is
properly
squashed
and
count
all
of
the
cells
you
can
see
(around
50-‐200
cells).
From
among
those,
count
how
many
cells
are
in
interphase,
prophase,
metaphase,
anaphase,
and
telophase.
Record
these
numbers
and
repeat
for
3-‐5
fields
of
view
to
obtain
a
good
sample
of
your
slide
(250-‐600
cells
total).
Note
that
you
are
“sampling”
multiple
fields
of
view
on
one
slide,
but
for
the
purposes
of
your
experiment
and
statistical
analysis,
one
sample
=
all
the
cells
counted
in
one
root
from
one
onion
AVOID
PSEUDOREPLICATION!
Do
not
take
multiple
roots
from
the
same
onion
and
do
not
count
multiple
fields
of
view
as
separate
experimental
samples.
Because
those
are
all
from
a
single
individual
onion
plant,
it
would
be
invalid
to
count
them
as
separate
samples.
All
the
cells
counted
from
a
particular
onion
plant
should
be
considered
one
sample.
10.
Count
the
number
of
cells
you
can
identify
in
each
stage
of
mitosis.
You
will
analyze
these
data
to
determine
whether
there
is
a
difference
between
your
treatment
and
control
samples.
D.
Calculations
Adding
the
number
of
mitotic
cells
and
dividing
by
the
total
number
of
cells
you
observed
will
give
you
the
mitotic
index
for
that
root.
In
any
given
sample:
If
appropriate
to
your
project,
you
should
identify
the
particular
stage
of
mitosis,
and
calculate
an
index
for
that
particular
phase
of
mitosis.
For
example,
if
you
are
trying
to
determine
whether
treated
onions
are
unable
to
enter
metaphase,
you
could
calculate
a
metaphase
index
or
a
prophase
index
for
your
samples.
For
example,
a
prophase
index
could
be
calculated
as:
If
your
team
will
be
reporting
mitotic
phase
indices,
be
sure
to
also
report
an
overall
mitotic
index,
as
well,
and
note
whether
there
is
a
significant
difference
between
your
treatment
and
control
indices.
Consider…
1.
What
are
the
(various)
mitotic
indices
of
your
treatment
and
control
groups?
2.
Do
you
observe
any
polyploid
cells
(i.e.,
those
with
multiple
chromosome
sets)?
Significance?
3.
What
mitotic
stages
are
most
prevalent?
Does
this
differ
between
treatment
and
control?
4.
Are
any
mitotic
stages
completely
absent?
Again,
you
will
eventually
need
to
explain
this,
and
any
difference
between
treatment
and
control.
Remember
that
you
will
be
calculating
a
mitotic
index
(and/or
mitotic
phase
indices)
for
at
least
10
treatment
and
10
control
onions.
The
indices
are
your
raw
data
that
will
be
statistically
analyzed
using
the
student’s
t
test
in
the
penultimate
stage
of
your
project.