The aim of this experiment was to observe the various mitotic stages in the meristematic tissue of garlic using bright field microscopy, which had been prepared prior to the procedure. Mitosis is a fundamental four stage process in living organisms involving the growth and division of cells, which take approximately and hour to complete. Root tips were used as the cells within them are constantly dividing and being replaced, as this is an actively growing region of the plant. The specimen was observed under gradually increasing magnification so the stages could be viewed more clearly. It was found that certain mitotic stages are more common than others suggesting that the length of time spent in different stages varies. Also all the stages …show more content…
The garlic root tip was observed in this experiment as it is this region where the cells rate of division is the highest and where new cells are constantly replacing old ones. Garlic root tips which had been prepared prior to the experiment were placed onto a microscopic slide and viewed under varying objective lenses of the microscope. Doing so, allowed us to progress from the overall specimen down to the root tip were the stages of mitosis could be viewed. In this investigation students, observed and classified the different mitotic stages by observing garlic root tips under a …show more content…
Each of these daughter cells end up with the same genetic information as the parent cell. Mitosis is the foundation of asexual reproduction in many organisms. (University of Leicester,2014)
During the course of this investigation, Köhler illumination was used which made it possible to follow the chromosomes progressing from prophase through to telophase as all the stages were found to occur in close proximity to each other. There are four stages of mitosis which collectively take approximately an hour to complete. (Infoplease, The Columbia Electronic Encyclopaedia, 2012) There is also one preparation stage and one final stage which prepares the cell for mitosis and enable the formation of two separate