Cell Division

Background information document:

Investigation 1: Models
Part 1: Modeling Mitosis

● Hypothesis ​“if a model of mitosis is built out of oreo cookies then we will see a simple model of
how the process occurs..”

● Materials
○ Oreos
○ Sugar sprinkles
○ Preferably tweezers
○ Napkin for cleaning

● Procedures​ - what did you do? Describe them step by step.

1. Get a pack of oreos
2. Fill a cup with sprinkles
3. For each cell you make, you need to take the top part off of the Oreo so that the white frosting is
facing upwards.
4. Take the sprinkles and organize them by color to represent each different piece of the cell
a. For example, for the majority of our project, Orange was used to represent the membrane
wall.
5. Arrange the sprinkles on each Oreo to represent all stages of Mitosis (Interphase, Prophase,
Metaphase, Anaphase, Cytokinesis, and Cytokinesis.
a. Color doesn’t matter, but it’s preferable to use the same color to represent the same
things.
6. After finishing making each phase, take a picture of each individual Oreo, or as a group.
7. Put the pictures into a table and make a key explaining what each color sprinkle is, what the
frosting represents, etc…

Data Table​: Each Phase of th Cell Cycle (Mitosis)

Phase Picture Key What’s Happening

Interphase Frosting - Cytoplasm During Interphase, the

cell is preparing itself
Orange Sprinkles - for the rest of the cycle.
Nuclear Membrane At the end of this
phase, the Nucleus
Green Sprinkles - disappears and sister
Nucleus chromatids develop.

Other Sprinkles:
Chromatids
Prophase Frosting - Cytoplasm During this phase, the
sister chromatids
Orange Sprinkles - develop and meet in the
Nuclear membrane center of the cell. As
stated above, the
Red/Green sprinkles - nucleus disappears at
Sister Chromatids. the beginning of
Prophase

Metaphase Frosting - Cytoplasm During this phase, the

sister chromatids attach
Green Sprinkles - to the spindles and line
Spindles up down the middle of
the cell.
Yellow and White
Sprinkles - Chromatids.

Anaphase Frosting - Cytoplasm During Anaphase, the

chromatids separate and
Orange Sprinkles - a furrow is formed in
Spindles the center of the cell,.
Since the chromatids
Green Sprinkles - are separated, they are
Chromosomes now known as
chromosomes.
Red Sprinkles - Central
furrow

Telophase Frosting - Cytoplasm During this phase, the

cell begins to split. The
Red Sprinkles - Spindle Chromosomes become
farther apart as the cells
Yellow and White move away from each
Sprinkles - Central other.
Furrow

Green Sprinkles -
Chromosomes

*Missing part of the

 cream is supposed to
represent the cell
separating, though we
did a pretty bad job.

Telophase Forsting - Cytoplasm In Cytokinesis, the cell

finished dividing and
Sprinkles - two new cells are
Chromosomes created. Typically, the
cell process starts again
*Each half of the Oreo from here.
represents a new cell.

● Justification:​ How do the chromosomes move in each phase? Why is each step important to the
overall goal of cell division? Why is each step important to the overall goal of mitosis?

This data table shows and describes what happens in each phase of Mitosis.
● Analysis Questions: ​Tutorial​ and a ​Game​ to help you answer the analysis questions and understand
everything you need to know for the AP exam
1. Identify 1 step in your model where a mistake could occur. Describe the consequences of
that mistake on the cell and on the organism.
One step where a mistake in cell division could’ve occured was during metaphase. It’s possible that the
chromosomes could’ve failed to line up, causing one half of the cell to have more chromosomes than the
other one. This means that once cytokinesis is completed, one cell would have more chromosomes than
the other. This would cause future replicated cells to also share this defect, leading to something such as
cancer.

2. Describe the limitations of your model versus observing this in the real world.
The Oreo model doesn’t actually show the cell going through the process in real time, since there’s no way
to make the model move. You are able to see each phase occur under a microscope, and the models serve
as specific checkpoints for this.

3. What role does CDK and cyclins in the process of cell division? Why are they important?
CDK (Cyclin-dependent kinases) are proteins that help regulate the cell cycle. They regulate transcription,
and mRNA processing

● Conclusion
In conclusion, my hypothesis seems to be mostly correct. The Oreo cookies allowed us to make a simple
model of the Mitosis process. There were still multiple sources of error, however. It’s possible that we may
have arranged the sprinkles incorrectly, or perhaps we used too many colors which may have caused
confusion when looking at the model. The models themselves could’ve been poorly done, which would
cause more confusion. In future experiments, it will probably be best if we took more time to make the
models more detailed.

Part 2: Meiosis

● Hypothesis​ “if a model of meiosis is built out of oreo cookies then we will be able to get a better
understanding of what the process looks like.”

● Procedures​ - what did you do? Describe them step by step.

1.
2.
3.
4.
● PIctures of your model and Key for your model.​ What does each piece oreo cookie, cream,
sprinkles, etc. represent. Make sure you have a title and insert here.

● Justification:​ How do the chromosomes move in each phase? Why is each step important to the
overall goal of cell division? Why is each step important to the overall goal of meiosis?

● Analysis Questions:
1. Identify 1 step in your model where a mistake could occur. Describe the consequences of
that mistake on the organism's possible progeny.

2. Compare and Contrast the process of mitosis and meiosis.

● Conclusion

Investigation 2: Studying the Effects of Environment on Mitosis

Part 3: ​Time Spent in the Phases of Mitosis​ (this link is in case the other stuff doesn’t work)
● Hypothesis:​ ​If we guess which phase the cell will spend the most time in, then the cell will stay in
Telophase the longest because it’s the phase when the cells split, and I think that would take a
while.
● Procedures:
1. Identify the phase the cell is in.
2. Keep track of the cells in each phase using the data table below.
3. Give Data table a name.
4. Complete analysis and conclusion.

Data table​: ​Cells’ Time in Each Phase.

 Phase Number of Cells % total of cells time in each stage
counted`

Interphase 20 55% 792 minutes

Prophase 10 27% 388 minutes

Metaphase 3 8.3% 119 minutes

Anaphase 2 5.5% 79 minutes

Telophase 1 2.2% 31 minutes

● Analysis:
1. To calculate the amount of time spent in each phase of the cell cycle from the percentage of cells
in that stage. On the average, it take 1,440 minutes (24 hours) for onion root tip cells to complete
the cell cycle.
% of cells in stage x 1440 minutes = _____ minutes of cell cycle spent in stage.
● Conclusion
In conclusion, my hypothesis was incorrect. Interphase is actually the phase that the cell spends the most
time in. This is most likely because the cell takes time to prepare itself for the rest of the cycle. Upon
further research, interphase is actually divided into 3 separate phases. There could’ve been errors in this
experiment, though the chances are low. It’s possible that I miscounted the cells, skewing the % data along
with the minutes spent in the phase. For future experiments, maybe we could also go over how much time
each phase is in Meiosis.

Investigation 3: Loss of Cell Cycle Control in Cancer

Part 4:​ Karyotypes
Based on your knowledge about human chromosomal disorders and nondisjunction due to loss of control
during the cell cycle, identify the name of the syndromes and karyotypes of the following patients.
Complete the data table:

Patient Number of Extra, Missing, or Name of Effects on the patient.

chromosomes Normal Syndrome

1 47 Chromosomes Extra 21 Trisomy 21 (Down ● Shorter life span

Total Chromosome Syndrome) ● Some degree of
mental
retardation
● Heart defects

2 47 Chromosomes Extra 18 Trisomy 18 ● Almost every

Total Chromosome (Edward’s organ system
Syndrome) negatively
affected.
 3. 47 Chromosomes Extra 13 Trisomy 13 (Patau ● Brain or
Total Chromosome Syndrome) Circulatory
defects
● Cleft palate
● Conclusion
In conclusion, I now see how the effects of one simple mistake can cause devastating effects. By simply
adding one chromosome to certain Karyotypes, a variety of genetic disorders can occur. There are only 3
livable conditions that have a Karyotype defect. These are: Down’s syndrome, Edward's’ syndrome, and
Patau syndrome. All of these defects affect some or all organ systems negatively. One possible source of
error for this investigation could be that I accidentally saw the extra chromosome in the wrong spot. In
future investigations, this can be fixed by looking at the chromosomes more carefully.
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Investigation 5: Meiosis and Crossing Over in ​SordariaI
Part 5:​ Meiosis and Crossing Over in ​Sordaria
Study the pictures of ​Sordia​ in the picture below by counting at least 50 asci and scoring them as either
parental or recombinant.
● If the ascospores are arranged 4 dark/4 light, count the ascus as “No crossing over.”
● If the arrangement of ascospores is in any other combination, count it as “Crossing over.”
● Record your results in the data table provided.
Analysis Questions:
1. Once you have determined if crossing over has occurred in at least 50 hybrid asci, record your data
in the table below.
2. Based on your counts, determine the percentage of asci showing crossover. Record in the table
below.
3. Divide the percent showing crossover by 2. This is your gene to centromere distance. (The
percentage of crossover asci is divided by 2 because only half of the spores in each ascus are the
result of a crossover event.)

Number of Asci Number of Asci Total % Asci Showing Gene to

 not showing showing Crossover Crossover Centromere
Crossover Distance (map
units)

33 17 50 34% 34/2 = 17
centromere
distance.

● Conclusion
In conclusion, the investigation showed us crossing over in sordaria. As seen on the data table, not all of the
asci exchanged genetic information with each other. Only 34% (17) of the 50 tested showed evidence that
crossing over occurred. A possible source of error in the investigation is that I may have counted the asci(s)
wrong. For example, some of the asci showed one or two circles of the picture, but I may have accidently
counted them. In the future, it’s possible to more carefully count the asci(s) to make sure that I don’t count
incorrectly.