}ames Akashi

Nay 8, 2u14
Science-1
!"#$#%&# "#( %)!*%+

!%*("),- If tiisecteu, which piece of a planaiian will iegeneiate fiist.

./!*+.)0&0- If tiisecteu, then the miu-section will iegeneiate fiist.

+.)*%/-
Planaiia aie inveitebiate flatwoims that aie able to piouuce sexually anu
asexually. This is because they aie heimaphiouites, which mean they have both
male anu female gonaus. To piouuce sexually, one planaiian meets anothei
planaiian on the vential siue. They exchange speim anu eggs thiough the genitals
anu they both stait to feitilize the eggs inteinally aftei they sepaiate. They lay the
eggs anu a few weeks latei, the eggs hatch anu the offspiing aie boin.
An alteinate methou is to iepiouuce asexually. This is geneially not the best way
to iepiouuce, as the offspiing is an exact copy of the paient uue to the lack of genetic
uiveisity because theie is no exchange of speim. Even so, some planaiia have to uo
this because of an injuiy that uoesn't allow them to iepiouuce sexually foi some
ieason. Theie aie two methous to this: fiagmentation anu tail uiopping.
Fiagmentation is wheie the oiiginal planaiian constiicts the aiea just behinu the
phaiynx until two paits sepaiate anu leave each othei. The oiiginal tail giows a new
heau anu the oiiginal heau giows a new tail uue to the ability of iegeneiation. Tail
uiopping is the othei methou. In this methou, the planaiia liteially uiop theii tails in
calm watei so the new, uwaifeu planaiia can iegeneiate.
Neoblasts aie unuiffeientiateu stem cells that cause the planaiian to iegeneiate
anu make up about Su% of the total amount of cells. They'ie totipotent which
means they can become any kinu of cell. This is because neoblasts can become any
cell since they aie totipotent. The stem cells aie always moving aiounu to the places
wheie they aie neeueu anu so that is calleu cell migiation. The miu-section is the
centei of the planaiian, so I thought that the neoblasts coulu theie the fastest. I
thought that the miu-section woulu iegeneiate the fiist because I thought that it was
one of the easiei paits.


8%
S4%
S8%
S7%
49%
14%
u%
1u%
2u%
Su%
4u%
Su%
6u%
7u%
8u%
9u%
1uu%
Anteiioi Niu-section Posteiioi
1

2
3
4

4
3
5
3
6
3
4
7
8
3
9

:;<= %35363478>?6 @787
1st Peiiou
7th uiaue
Akashi, James Thursday, May 8, 2014 10:16:53 AM Pacic Daylight Time 70:56:81:af:d7:f1

A*$A"B0&*$- In this lab, we tiisecteu a planaiian to see which pait iegeneiateu the
fiist: the anteiioi, miu-section, oi the posteiioi. I hypothesizeu that the miu-section
woulu iegeneiate the fiist anu I was iight. By uay 7, it was pietty obvious that the
miu-section was iegeneiating the fastest because theie was alieauy a small heau
giowing. In conclusion, my hypothesis was coiiect. The miu-section iegeneiateu the
fastest with the heau somewhat close behinu.

#$#"/0&0-
I think oui iesults weie not that valiu because we cut all the pieces uiffeient
lengths. The miu-section by fai was the longest anu so that may have maue it a little
easiei to iegeneiate because theie is less. If we tiisecteu the planaiian into equal
paits, then it may have been a little bit moie valiu. Aftei we tiisecteu it, the tail was
obviously not uoing that well because it moveu a lot slowei than the othei pieces. I
believe it uieu within the fiist week so obviously it wasn't able to iegeneiate. 0ui
outcome was even with the iest of the class anu the 7
th
giaue because S4% of 1
st

peiiou hau the miu-section iegeneiate anu 49% of the entiie 7
th
giaue hau the miu-
section iegeneiate fiist. In conclusion oui uata coulu've been much moie valiu if we
cut it moie evenly.
Theie aie similaiities anu uiffeiences between the stem cells in planaiia anu the
stem cells in humans. Neoblasts aie basically the stem cells foi the planaiia. Both
neoblasts anu iegulai stem cells aie unuiffeientiateu at fiist but become
uiffeientiateu when neeueu. They both ieplace tissues anu bloou cells anu they both
migiate to a wounu if they aie neeueu. Even so, they aie uiffeient because theie aie
two types of human stem cells while theie aie only neoblasts in planaiia. In humans
theie aie both embiyonic anu "auult" stem cells. The embiyonic help with the
uevelopment of the fetus, while the auult cells help with the giowth of the chilu aftei
it's boin. Even though humans aie veitebiates anu planaiia aie inveitebiates, theii
cells aie quite similai.
Stem cell ieseaich has always been quite a contioveisial topic but appaiently it
has become less contioveisial. Stem cell ieseaich has been contioveisial because
even though it helps cuie uiseases, people still aigue against it. This is because when
scientists isolate human embiyonic stem cells (hES), they uestioy the embiyo.
People think that this is both somewhat uistuibing anu that embiyos aie a foim of
life anu so they uon't want them to be uestioyeu even they aie only a couple uays
olu. When the embiyo is uestioyeu, people get aboiteu which means they can't
become piegnant. 0n the othei hanu, stem cell ieseaich cuies uiseases anu is
oveiall a giant scientific bieakthiough. The aigument ovei stem cells is slowly
uecieasing as moie anu moie people aie leaining that stem cells aie constantly
neeueu to help illnesses anu uiseases.

(&("&*C%#!./-
Genetic Science Learning Center. "Learn.Genetics.utah.edu." Learn.Genetics 8 May 2014
<http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/>
Akashi, James Thursday, May 8, 2014 10:16:53 AM Pacic Daylight Time 70:56:81:af:d7:f1