MODULE 4

Unit Title 1: Plant Basics

Title of the 4: Mitotically Speaking

Lesson

Duration 3 Meetings (7 hours)

Plants continue to grow and produce new tissues and organs

throughout their lives. There are two principal types of plant growth,
the growth in height or length (primary growth of stems, leaves,
roots, and flowers) and the subsequent growth in thickness
Introduction (secondary growth of stems and roots). Each type of growth occurs
by both cell division (mitosis) and cell enlargement. The cell
divisions are primarily concentrated in specific zones called
meristems, containing structurally similar, undifferentiated
(embryonic-like) parenchyma cells.
Identify the stages in the cell cycle, and describe the main events
Objectives/ of each stage
Competencies
Characterize the events that occur in each phase of plant mitosis

Pretest a. What is mitosis?

b. What is the difference between plant mitosis to animal mitosis?
Lesson ACTIVITY
Proper/Course
Methodology All cells only arise from pre-existing cells. Briefly explain.

ANALYSIS

In higher plants, cell division occurs in portions called meristems.

Meristems are located at the tips of roots or stems and are
responsible for plant lengthening and enlargement as well as leaf,
stem, flower, and fruit production. Plant cells produce new organs,
such as a leaf, at the meristem locations instead of repairing or
replacing damaged cells. The root tip contains an apical meristem
that facilitates the growth in root length. The apical meristem is just
a small portion at the end of the root tip where mitosis occurs
(Figure 4.1). A root tip can be broken down into zones (or areas in
some references). Each zone can overlap into the adjacent zones;
there are no demarcation lines of separation. The first zone is the
root cap, which protects the apical meristem when the root pushes
through the soil as the root grows. The root apical meristem is also
termed as the zone of cell division. All phases or stages of the cell
cycle occur in the zone of cell division. The zone of cell elongation
is the region where the cells have been displaced from the
meristem. Roots grow when the cells in the zone of cell elongation
push the root tip farther into the soil. In the zone of cell maturation,
the cells complete their differentiation and develop into the dermal,
ground, or vascular tissue cells.

It is described that in the zone of cell division, the cells complete a

full cell cycle typically in 24 hours. The cell cycle comprises five
stages—G1, S, G2, M, and C.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK26869/figure/A3171/?report=objectonly

Figure 4.1: The cell cycle

The M stage, or mitosis, is made up of stages in which the nucleus

divides. Mitosis only represents a brief segment, about two to four
hours, in the cell's overall life cycle. Most of the life of a cell is
spent doing its normal metabolic activities, growing, and preparing
the cell for its next division. These stages are called interphase
and include the G1, S, and G2 stages. During interphase, the cell
is metabolically active. Throughout most of the interphase, the cell
produces (synthesizing) RNA, proteins, and cytoplasm as it
respires and metabolizes. Cells found in the root cap and the zone
of cell elongation enter interphase and rarely divide again. In the
zone of cell division, cells prepare themselves for mitosis during
interphase by replicating DNA and organelles. During the end of
mitosis, the cell begins to split into two. In the C stage, commonly
known as cytokinesis, the parent cell's cytoplasm and organelles
are divided to produce two offspring cells.
Mitosis is subdivided into five phases (or stages in some
references). During prophase, the nucleolus disappears, and
chromatin condenses. In prophase, the cytoskeleton's microtubules
begin to create the spindle fibers needed for chromosome
separation. In prometaphase, the nuclear envelope breaks down;
the nucleus is no longer recognizable. During metaphase, the
duplicated chromosome reaches the metaphase plate, which is
midway between the poles. Anaphase begins when the sister
chromatids separate, splitting each chromosome in half. Followed
by the shortening of the spindle fibers and drag the attached
chromatids to opposite poles of the cell follows. In telophase, we
will observe that the daughter chromosomes arrive at the poles,
and these spindle fibers that have pulled them apart are no longer
visible. A nuclear envelope reforms around each cluster of
chromosomes return to their more extended form while cytokinesis
begins.

Figure 4.2: Interphase and phases of mitosis

During cytokinesis, a cell plate is synthesized between the two

daughter cells. To perform this, plant cells send vesicles derived
from dictyosomes to the middle of the cell. The vesicles fuse to
form the cell plate, which expands until it forms a complete cell
wall.

ABSTRACTION

A prepared longitudinal cross-section of the Allium root tip provides

a glimpse of the cell cycle. The portion of cells in each phase of the
 cell cycle should match each phase's amount of time. In onion, the
time to complete one cell cycle is about 24 hours or 1440 minutes.
Each phase's relative duration can be calculated by counting the
number of cells in each phase of the cell cycle.

APPLICATION

Prometaphase is included as a phase following prophase since its

inclusion in literature published by the National Institutes of Health
in 2005.

We can observe mitosis in action in the root tips of sprouting onion

(Allium sp.) because the chromosomes are distinctly large, and the
mitotic rate is high.
Each phase of mitosis may not appear in every thin section of the
Allium root tip. If one is experiencing difficulty locating a particular
phase, prepared slides are the thin sections of a living plant. One
Reflection/ may find a beautiful example of the phase on another thin section
Learning on the same or another slide.
Insights
On average, 10–40 cells will undergo mitosis in each zone of cell
division. The exact number of cells varies in each thin section on
the Allium slide. Variation is expected to occur since Allium is a
living tissue.
ASSESS WHAT YOU HAVE LEARNED
Post-test
What are the phases of plant mitosis?

Final Make a model (clay or edible food) of the different phases of plant
Requirement mitosis.

Other Parts SUGGESTED READINGS AND WEBSITES

Plant Mitosis:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4govZdjEBrs

GLOSSARY

cell cycle - is a series of events that takes place in a cell as it grows

and divides

cytokinesis is the cell division's physical process, which divides a

parental cell's cytoplasm into two daughter cells.
REFERENCES

https://www.flinnsci.ca/api/library/Download/
9b149d2fd3c642b0ad389362bf583def