William Opsahl, Melody Vaughn, Rhonda Benway, Stephanie Lyons February 13, 2012 Principles of Cellular and Molecular

Biology 135-002 Microscopic View of Cells A cell is the lowest level of organization that can perform all the activities required for life. All cells share similar characteristics like cell membranes which are lipid bilayers that selectively regulate materials in and out of the cell. They also all must contain DNA the inherited genetic information which controls the functions of the cell. Cells are classified under two categories: eukaryotic which are plant, animal, and fungi; prokaryotic which are bacteria and archea bacteria. In this lab we look at eukaryotic cells from plants and animals which all grew in multicellular form but were cut thin enough for our purpose of observing. These cells all contained nucleuses, though they were not visible all the time, and many contained plastids such as, chloroplast, leucoplasts, chromoplasts. For this lab we were given a microscope, microscope slides, face plates, water and pipet, iodine, tweezers, and pieces of onion, red pepper, potato and a young leaf of Elodea. We were also given a tooth pick to scrap the inside of our cheek for cells. To start the back side of an onion peel was skinned off with a tweezers and place on a slide. A few drops of water were added and a face plate was placed on top angling it at 45 degrees then dropping it to reduce the number of air bubbles. The slide was then placed on the microscope and magnified to 100x . The only things visible were the dark outlines of the cell

wall. The slide was removed and iodine was added to dye the cells, it was then placed back under the microscope and magnified. This time the cell membranes and nucleus were made visible. If one focused in on the nucleus enough, small dark spots could be seen with in it these are known as nucleolus. The nucleolus is the area where ribosomal RNA is synthesized and proteins are assembled from the rRNA into larger and smaller subunits of ribosomes. Below is a personal recreation of the view from the microscope on the onion cell in figure 1. Next a young small leaf from an Elodea was prepared on a slide as was described above, placed on the microscope and magnified. A green color was very present bound within specialized organelles called chloroplasts which contain chlorophyll. These organelles were numerous and scattered throughout the cells cytosol. A movement of the cytoplasm known as cyclosis began to move the chloroplasts around the cell in a circular fashion. Below is a personal recreation of the view from the microscope on the Elodea cell in figure 2. A Potato chunk was thinly sliced along one edge with a razor blade and prepared on a slide as described above and brought to high magnification. Again without dye only the dark outlines of the cell walls could be seen. After adding iodine large purple structures known as leucoplasts were clearly visible in all cells. The leucoplasts contain starch reserves for the cell. Below is a personal recreation of the view from the microscope on the potato cell in figure 3. A red pepper skin was prepared on a slide and brought to high magnification on the microscope. No dye was needed due to the color already present. Small plastids known as chromoplasts containing an orange pigment called carotene were present all over the cytoplasm but tended to cluster in groups of 20 or so. Below is a personal recreation of the view from the microscope on the red pepper cell in figure 4.

The final slide was prepared by taking a tooth pick and gently scratching the inside surface of the cheek. Then a drop of iodine was added to the slide and the tooth pick was rubbed in the iodine to place the human epithelial cells on the slide. The toothpick was discarded in the wastebasket. The slide was prepared as before with a faceplate, placed on the microscope and brought to high magnification. The nucleus and the cell membrane were the only visible structures. As one can see in figure 5 below. From this exercise in microscopy we have learned how to properly prepare wet slides as well as adding iodine dye to make features become visually present. We were able to visually identify three types of plastids, chloroplasts, leucoplasts, and chromoplasts. Many phenomenons were also presented to a multitude of students such as cyclosis, cell divisions, mutations, and small insects or large amoeba. Even though cells are not the smallest particles of substances; they are considered to be the basic unit of life. The number of organisms on this planet is so vast, that the number of cell types seems infinite. Inside each of these individual types are components and organelles that have their individual purposes. All things need hydration and the energy created by metabolic processes. Each of their roles is important within the cell itself, and in communication with other cells of the organism. The cells of all organisms are also vital to each other.