Spotting 8

Mendelian Inheritance
Spotting 9
Pedigree analysis
Spotting 10
Study of stages of meiosis using permanent slides.
Meiosis I:
Meiosis I yields two haploid cells, each containing half as many chromosomes as the parent diploid
cell, while the complete process of meiosis produces four distinct haploid cells. Sexual reproduction
depends on this to maintain genetic diversity in progeny.

Prophase I:

The longest phase of Meiosis I. During this stage, the chromosomes condense, but they do not
migrate towards the cell's center at this point. There are five distinct sub-phases to it:
 ●​ Leptotene: Chromosomes condense and become visible. Homologous chromosomes start
pairing up.
●​ Zygotene: Homologous chromosomes undergo synapsis (pairing) and form structures called
tetrads, which consist of four chromatids.
●​ Pachytene: Crossing-over occurs when genetic material is exchanged between homologous
chromatids, promoting genetic diversity.
●​ Diplotene: Chromatids may partially separate, and chiasmata (sites of crossing-over)
become visible.
●​ Diakinesis: The spindle apparatus forms, the nuclear envelope disintegrates, and the
chromosomes fully condense. Chiasmata link homologous chromosomes as they travel in
the direction of the metaphase plate.

Metaphase I:

●​ Along the metaphase plate, homologous chromosomal pairs align, with spindle fibers from
opposing poles adhering to each chromosome.
●​ Each chromosome's kinetochores attach to these spindle fibers, ensuring proper segregation
during the subsequent cell division.

Anaphase I:

●​ When homologous chromosomes are pulled apart, they travel in opposite directions to the
cell's poles.
●​ At this point, sister chromatids are still joined together.

Telophase I:

●​ When chromosomes reach the poles, they partially decondense.

●​ The cell can go through cytokinesis, producing two haploid daughter cells, and nuclear
envelopes may form.

Cytokinesis I:

●​ The parent cell divides into two haploid daughter cells by dividing its cytoplasm.
●​ Each daughter cell contains half of the original chromosome number.
●​ The resulting cells are genetically distinct due to the recombination events during Prophase I
and the independent assortment of homologous chromosomes during Metaphase I.
 ●​

Interkinesis (Interphase II):

●​ A brief interphase between meiosis I and meiosis II.

●​ No DNA replication occurs during this phase.

Meiosis II:
Meiosis II resembles mitosis but involves the division of haploid cells. It consists of the following
phases:

Prophase II:

●​ If nuclear envelopes were formed in Telophase I, they may break down again.
●​ Chromosomes condense, and spindle fibers reappear.

Metaphase II:

●​ Chromosomes align along the metaphase plate in both daughter cells.

Anaphase II:

●​ Sister chromatids are finally separated and pulled towards opposite poles of each cell.
Telophase II:

●​ Chromatids decondense into chromatin.

●​ Nuclear envelopes reform around each set of chromosomes.

Cytokinesis II:

●​ The two cells produced during Meiosis I undergo a second round of cytokinesis, resulting in
four haploid daughter cells.
●​ The daughter cells maintain their haploid state, containing a single set of chromosomes.

Experiment 2
Aim
To prepare a temporary mount of an onion root tip to study mitosis.

Materials Required:
Onion, acetocarmine stain, N/10 hydrochloric acid, aceto alcohol (1:3 glacial acetic acid: ethanol),
burner, water, slide, cover slip, watch glass, filter paper, forcep, blade, dropper, needle, compound
microscope.

Procedure:
 ●​ Take an onion and carefully remove the dry roots present using a sharp blade.
●​ Grow root tips by placing the bulbs in a beaker filled with water.
●​ New roots may take 3–6 days to grow.
●​ Cut off 2–3 cm of freshly grown roots and place them into a watch glass.
●​ Transfer them with a forceps to the vial containing freshly prepared fixative of aceto-alcohol
(1:3: glacial acetic acid: ethanol) for 24 hours
●​ Using a forceps, take one root and place it on a clean glass slide.
●​ Using a dropper, place one drop of N/10 HCl on the root tip, followed by 2–3 drops of
acetocarmine stain.
●​ Warm it slightly on the burner. Care should be taken that the stain does not dry up.
●​ Carefully blot the excess stain using filter paper.
●​ After that, put one drop of water on the root tip and mount a cover slip on it using a needle.
●​ Now, slowly tap the cover slip using the blunt end of a needle so that the meristematic tissue
of the root tip below the cover slip is properly squashed and spread as a thin layer of cells.
●​ Place the slide under the compound microscope and observe the different stages of mitosis.

Observations
●​ Prophase:
○​ Mitosis begins at prophase with the thickening and coiling of the chromosomes.
○​ The nuclear membrane and nucleolus shrink and disappear.
○​ The end of prophase is marked by the beginning of the organization of a group of
fibres to form a spindle.
●​ Metaphase
●​ The chromosomes become thick, and the two chromatids of each chromosome become
clear.
○​ Each chromosome attaches to spindle fibres at its centromere.
○​ The chromosomes are arranged at the midline of the cell.
●​ Anaphase
○​ In anaphase each chromatid pair separates from the centromere and move towards
the opposite ends of the cell by the spindle fibres.
○​ The cell membrane begins to pinch at the centre.
●​ Telophase
○​ Chromatids arrive at opposite poles of the cell.
 ○​ The spindle disappears, and the daughter chromosome uncoils to form chromatin
fibres.
○​ The nuclear membranes and nucleolus reform, and two daughter nuclei appear at
opposite poles.
○​ Cytokinesis, or the partitioning of the cell, may also begin during this stage.

●​ Cytokinesis
○​ Cells with two daughter nuclei at the opposite pole are visible
○​ The cell plate can be observed.

Precautions
 ●​ While trimming old roots from the onion base, care should be taken not to cut the bulb.
●​ Only the base of the onion bulb should be in contact with water to grow new roots.
●​ The slide with stained tissue should be warmed gently to avoid drying of the tissue.

Spotting 11
Common disease-causing organisms

1.​ Entamoeba histolytica

●​ It is an endoparasite that lives in the mucous and sub-mucous layers of the large intestine of
man.
●​ Mainly causes amoebiasis (amoebic dysentery) in humans.
●​ The body is divided into outer ectoplasm, inner nucleated endoplasm, and cis overed by
plasmalemma.
●​ The lobe-like pseudopodia are produced from the ectoplasm.
●​ The nucleus is composed of a small peripheral chromatin granule and a centrally located
nucleolus called a karyosome.
●​ It is monogenetic – the life cycle is completed in a single host only.

Entamoeba histolytica

2.​ Plasmodium vivax

●​ It is a unicellular parasite and has two hosts orderly human host and female mosquito.
Human host considered as a primary host.
●​ Mainly causes Malaria in humans and lives in the red blood corpuscles (RBCs) of infected
humans in the mature trophozoite stage.
●​ An infected mosquito can spread infection by injecting the infective stage of sporozoite into
blood vessels, and this stage can undergo several rounds of multiplication in RBC and
erythrocytes.
●​ The trophozoite condition is uninucleated and has a vacuole that contains granular
cytoplasm.
●​ The vacuole is formed within the erythrocytes along with the nucleus on one end. This is
known as the Signet ring.
●​ This is the third multiplication stage of schizogony that occurs within the erythrocytes.

3.​ Ascaris
●​ An endoparasite lives in the small intestine of a man, lying freely in the lumen, and causes
Ascariasis.
●​ It has a monogenetic life cycle, completing its life cycle in a single host.
●​ Ascaris lumbricoides has an elongated, cylindrical structure. Along with the body, single
longitudinal lines are present.
●​ The male is shorter in size than the female; the posterior end is curved due to the presence
of penial setae.
●​ The smooth body is tapering on both ends. The mouth aperture is present at the anterior
end, and is bounded by three lipsl.
●​ The excretory pore is present on the ventral surface, which is near the anterior tips.
Experiment 3
Aim
To isolate DNA from available plant materials.
Experiment 4
Aim
To study plant population density in an area by the quadrat method.
Experiment 5
Aim
To study plant population frequency by the quadrat method.
Spotting 12
symbiotic association in lichens, root nodules of leguminous plants, and the parasitic mode of
nutrition shown by Cuscuta.
Spotting 13
To study homology and analogy