BIO111 Lab 10: Mitosis and Meiosis

by Dr. Rego

Objective: In this lab you will learn about and examine the underlying processes required for cell
division (the cell cycle).
Instructions for Students: Read the entire laboratory procedure and complete all prelab activities
before coming to lab. Once you come to lab follow the steps provided for each exercise, take good
notes and make sure to get checked off by the lab instructor once you finish. Your instructor will let
you know if you are required to complete any additional activities in for lab.
Learning Objectives: After completing this laboratory experiment, you should be able to do the
following things:
1.
2.
3.
4.

Describe the cell cycle.

Simulate mitosis with a model.
Identify the stages of mitosis from prepared slides.
Recognize the processes of meiosis and how it differs from mitosis.

Introduction and background:

What is a cell and where do cells come from?
In modern biology our understanding of a cell as the basic building block of life is outlined by the
Cell Theory which was established by Schleiden and Schwann in 1838. The Cell Theory states:
1. All living organisms are composed of one or more cells.
2. Cells are the basic building blocks of all life.
3. All cells are descended from a preexisting cell.
While these may seem like relative simple points it took scientists several centuries to produce the
cell theory.
The development of the cell theory directly follows the development of the microscope. Robert
Hooke used a microscope to observe the cork which was made of units that looked like the rooms
that monks lived in known as cella and shortly after this, single celled organisms were discovered
by Antoni van Leeuwenhoek. Leeuwenhoek discovered motile microscopic particles by examining
scrapings from his teeth under his microscope. Evidence piled up supporting the theory that all
living things were composed of cells but it was not until the 1850s that a group of scientist
demonstrated that new cells were produced from preexisting cells. We now know the key steps
involved in cell division which are mapped out in the cell cycle. The different stages of the cell cycle
were identified microscopically by Waclaw Mayzel in 1875, who identified a series of
morphological changes that occurred when one cell divides into daughter cells.

How are new cells formed?

There are two processes involving the production on new cells, mitosis and meiosis. Mitosis is used
for growth and to replace old or dead cells. The second process, meiosis, produces cells for sexual
reproduction (gametes - egg and sperm), which we will discuss later in this lab.
Mitotic cell division
The mitotic cell cycle (Figure 1) is used to produce new somatic cells in the organism. Cells that
undergo mitosis include skin cells, blood cells, cells that line your gastrointestinal tract and even
bone cells. In fact, after 10 years every cell in your body will have been replaced through the
process of cell division!
The mitotic cell cycle is broken down into two parts; Interphase and Mitosis (Figure 1). Interphase
is composed of three sections; G1 (growth1), S (synthesis) and G2 (growth2). Mitosis can be divided
into four sections: Prophase, Metaphase, Anaphase, and Telophase which will be described below.

Figure 1. The various steps in the mitotic cell cycle. The mitotic cell cycle begins once a somatic
cell receives cues to divide and results in the production of 2 identical daughter cells.

o Interphase
Interphase can be thought of as a preparatory phase for mitosis. In order for a cell to produce 2
identical copies of itself, the material inside the cell must double. This includes cytoplasmic
material, such as organelles (e.g. the mitochondria), as well as nuclear material like DNA. In the 1st
stage of interphase (G1) the cell grows and duplicates much of its cytoplasmic material. The next
stage of interphase (S), known as the synthesis phase, is where cells replicate their DNA leading to
the production of enough genetic material for 2 cells. Additional growth occurs in the last stage of
interphase (G2). It is important to note that the genetic material of cells remains in the nucleus and
has not yet condensed during interphase, therefore, we would not expect to see any visible
chromosomes during this stage of the cell cycle. In fact, it is important that the DNA is spread out
during interphase because it is much easier to replicate DNA that is spread throughout the nucleus
compared to DNA that is condensed into chromosomes.
o Mitosis
Mitosis means the division of the nucleus to produce two identical daughter cells. As cells pass from
interphase to prophase (Figure 2A) the chromosomes condense and the mitotic spindle forms. At
this point each chromosome is composed of two sister chromatids joined at the centromere.
Additionally, the nuclear envelope breaks down and the mitotic spindle begin to attach to the
chromosomes at the centromere. During metaphase (Figure 2B) the chromosomes line up in the
middle of the cell forming a structure called the metaphase plate. This stage is important to ensure
that DNA is split equally so each daughter cell receives the appropriate amount of genetic material.
During anaphase (Figure 2C) the centromere splits and each chromatid, now a chromosome, is
pulled to opposite sides of the cell. In the last stage, telophase (Figure 2D), the chromosomes
become less condensed, two new nuclei form and the mitotic spindle disintegrate. This officially
ends mitosis which, as mentioned before is the division of the nucleus. The cell cycle ends with
cytokinesis, the division of cytoplasm into 2 daughter cells, which often overlaps with late
telophase.

Figure 2. Stages of Mitosis.

Exercise 1 Pop beads to simulate mitosis:

Models are commonly used by scientists to represent natural structures and processes. Linus
Pauling developed a structural model of the protein that transports oxygen in our blood
(hemoglobin) based on chemical data collected in research laboratories. Francis Crick and James
Watson developed a model for the structure of DNA using wires, which later won them the Nobel
Prize in 1962. Today we will use magnets and beads to model mitosis.
Objective: simulate mitosis with pop beads
Materials:
SSL POP beads box
o Red beads
o Yellow beads
o String spindles
o Magnetic centromeres (white)
o Centrioles (red)
Procedure:
1. Build chromosomes for a diploid cell (2n) with 4 un-replicated chromosomes
a. Obtain 4 magnetic centromeres
b. Make 2 homologous long chromosomes
i. Connect 2 sets of 3 yellow beads to 1 centromere
ii. Connect 2 sets of 3 red beads to another centromere
c. Make 2 homologous short chromosomes
i. Connect 2 sets of 1 yellow bead to 1 centromere
ii. Connect 2 sets of 1 red bead to another centromere

Now you have 2 pairs of homologous chromosomes. Remember that in each cell of
your body, you have 2 copies of each chromosome (1 from mom and 1 from dad).
The red can represent mom and the yellow can represent dad. The 2 long
chromosomes (homologous chromosomes) will code for the same traits, for
example eye color, hair color etc. The 2 short chromosomes will also code for the
same traits. However, these traits are different from the traits coded for by the long
chromosomes. The difference between the red long chromosome and the yellow
long chromosome is that they may contain different alleles. For example, if the eye

color trait is found on the long chromosome you may have received a copy of the
blue eye allele from your mom (red bead 3) and a copy of the brown allele at the
same position on the other chromosome from your dad (yellow bead 3).
2. Replicate your chromosomes to make 4 replicated chromosomes
a. Perform the same procedure as step one to make 2 more long and 2 more short
chromosomes
b. Connect the identical chromosomes together by touching their magnet centromeres
together
At the point you may think you have 8 chromosomes, however, you still only have 4
chromosomes but in this case they are replicated. During replication, you copied the
original 4 chromosomes but did not make any new chromosomes. In other words,
before replication, you had 4 chromosomes but after replication you still have 4
chromosomes, each consisting of 2 chromatids joined together at the centromere.
Now that we have replicated our chromosomes and have twice as much DNA as we
need for a normal cell, we can begin to simulate the process of mitosis!
Critical thinking question: What is the difference between homologous chromosomes (Step 1)
and sister chromatids (Step 2)?

3. Prophase
a. We dont need to do anything with the beads but in the blanks below list the 3 things
that happen to a cell during prophase
i. _____________________________________________________________________________
ii. _____________________________________________________________________________
iii. _____________________________________________________________________________
4. Metaphase
a. Line up your chromosomes as they would be found in metaphase (in a straight
vertical line)
b. Attach the spindles to each chromatid
i. Cut 8 pieces of string and tie them to the centromere of each chromatid
c. Place the ends of the strings near the centriole away from the middle of your cell
5. Anaphase
a. Pull the chromosomes apart away from the middle and towards the centrioles
6. Telophase
a. Recognize how many chromosomes you end up with in EACH daughter cell
b. Draw each step of mitosis you recapitulated with your model in the diagram below:

Exercise 2 Observing mitosis under the microscope:

Now that you have modeled mitosis you will try to observe the different stages of mitosis in cells.
New cells are produced in animals and plants by the division of old cells. These new cells can be
used for growth or to replace dead or damaged cells. Mitosis will be observed in an onion root tip,
where many dividing cells are found, using a compound microscope. The first region is the root cap
which protects the growing root. The second is the meristem, a region of highly mitotically active
cells, which you will focus on today. In this case you are observing mitosis in plant cells but you
should also be able to do this with dividing somatic animal cells. Some of the differences between
mitosis in plants and animals are that centrioles are present in animal cells but not plant cells and
during cytokinesis animals form a cleavage furrow, whereas, plants form a cell plate.
Objective: observe mitosis in plant cells
Materials:
o
o

Onion root tip slide

Compound microscope

Procedure:
1. Obtain an onion root tip slide from the slide holder
2. Place your slide on the microscope stage
3. Observe the onion root tip under low power
a. Cells at the very tip of an onion are not dividing, therefore, focus on the cells just
behind the tip (this is known as the zone of cell division)
4. Once you have located the zone of cell division increase the power of magnification until
you can clearly see individual cells
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5. Try to locate cells from each stage of mitosis and draw below:

Introduction and background to meiosis:

What is meiosis?
The other type of cell division that occurs in sex cells (sperm
and egg) is called meiosis. Most plants and animals are diploid,
meaning that each of their somatic cells contains two copies of
each chromosome. In order for sexual reproduction to occur
properly, the number of chromosomes in the sperm in egg must
be half that of a somatic cell. These cells are therefore haploid. If
the chromosome number was not reduced by half then each
new generation would have twice the number of chromosomes
as the previous organism; which is called polyploidy. In many
organisms a state of polyploidy causes biological defects and in
most cases polyploid human embryos are not viable and will
result in miscarriage.
Sometimes mistakes occur during meiosis leading to an unequal
distribution of chromosomes, known as aneuploidy. For
example, having an extra copy of chromosome 21 leads to Down
syndrome in humans.
Meiosis differs from mitosis in that two rounds of cell division
occur, referred to as meiosis I and meiosis II, with only one
round of DNA synthesis. Figure 3 shows the stages which
produce 4 haploid cells. In meiosis I the S stage of interphase
occurs as normal. The first difference between mitosis and

meiosis I occurs in Prophase I. During prophase I the homologous chromosomes pair up and
exchange genetic material, a process known as crossing over. The process of exchange actually
occurs between the chromatids of the homologous chromosomes (Figure 3). This exchange of
genetic material increases the genetic variation in the offspring. The next stage, metaphase I, is
where chromosome pairs line up next to each other in the middle of the cell. The way the
chromosomes line up is random meaning that there is a 50:50 chance that a chromosome lines up
on one side or the other (Figure 4 Law of independent assortment). The next difference between
mitosis and meiosis occurs in
anaphase I. During anaphase I the
homologous chromosomes
segregate and move to the
opposite poles. The cells then
enter a second cell cycle (meiosis
II) without replicating DNA. The
length of interphase between
meiosis I and meiosis II varies from nonexistent too years depending on the organism. In meiosis II
during Anaphase II the centromere divides and the sister chromatids are pulled to opposite poles of
the cell.

Exercise 3 Pop beads to simulate meiosis:

This time we will use pop beads to simulate meiosis similar to the method we used earlier for
mitosis.
Objective: simulate meiosis with pop beads
Materials:
SSL POP beads box
o Red beads
o Yellow beads
o Magnetic centromeres
o Centrioles

Procedure:
1. Build chromosomes for a diploid cell (2n) with 4 un-replicated chromosomes
a. Obtain 4 magnetic centromeres
b. Make 2 homologous long chromosomes
i. Connect 2 sets of 3 yellow beads to 1 centromere
ii. Connect 2 sets of 3 red beads to another centromere
c. Make 2 homologous short chromosomes
i. Connect 2 sets of 1 yellow bead to 1 centromere

2.

3.

4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.

ii. Connect 2 sets of 1 red bead to another centromere

iii. Use figure 3 as a guide if you are having trouble!
Replicate your chromosomes similarly to DNA replication which takes place during
interphase before meiosis
a. Perform the same procedure as step one to make 2 more long and 2 more short
chromosomes
b. Connect the identical chromosomes together by touching their magnet centromeres
together
Simulate prophase I
a. Connect the centromeres of each homologous chromosome pair
i. Now you should have 4 replicated chromosomes, each consisting of 2
chromatids stuck together.
b. Perform crossing over
i. Take a bead off the end of one of the chromatids on the long chromosome
and switch it with one on the adjacent homologous chromosome
ii. Some of you chromosomes should now have a mix of red and yellow alleles
Simulate metaphase I
a. Line up chromosome pairs in the middle of your cell
Simulate anaphase I
a. Pull apart chromosome pairs toward centrioles using strings
Simulate telophase I
a. Chromosomes will now reside in separate cells
You wont need to do anything for Prophase II
Simulate metaphase II
a. Line chromosomes up in the middle of your cell
Simulate anaphase II
a. Pull apart chromatids towards centrioles using string
i. You now have half the genetic material needed for a somatic cell
Simulate telophase II
a. Draw what you end up with in the diagram below:

Exercise 4 Observing meiosis under the microscope:

Observing the different stages of meiosis is often difficult due to the structure of the organs in
which meiosis and fertilization occur. One way scientist gets around this type of problem is
through the use of model organisms. A model organism is an organism in which a particular
biological process is easily observed or manipulated. One example of a model organism used in the
study of meiosis is the grasshopper. In the grasshopper testis, the process of meiosis can be easily
followed since meiotic cells travel down the organ in a liner path depending on their stage. Later
stages of meiosis are farther along in the organ than earlier. In a grasshopper testis it is often
possible to observe all stages of meiosis I and meiosis II. In this lab we are going to use the
grasshopper testis model to observe the processes of meiosis.
Objective: observe meiosis in grasshopper testis
Materials:
o
o

Grasshopper testis slide

Compound microscope

Procedure:
1. Obtain a grasshopper testis slide from the slide holder
2. Place your slide on the microscope stage
3. Observe the grasshopper testis under low power
4. Once you have focused the sample under low power increase the power of magnification
until you can clearly see individual cells
5. Try to locate cells from each stage of meiosis and draw below:
a. For those stages you cant find please draw what you would expect to see

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Summary questions:
1. List the steps in mitosis and meiosis in the table below and identify how these processes
differ.
Mitosis
Meiosis

2. Describe crossing over and explain how crossing over contributes to genetic variability?
How is this beneficial?

3. How does the cell decide which homologue goes to which pole during anaphase I of
meiosis?

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