Meiosis Lab

Lab Template

Week 4: Meiosis

Submitted by: <your name here>

As you complete the lab, record your answers in this template. Save the document as LastName_FirstName_BIO1020_W4A3, and submit it to the Dropbox. Full lab instructions and the rubric with which you will be evaluated can be found in the online classroom.

Activity

Cellular reproduction in Eukaryotes involves either mitosis or, in the case of sex cells, meiosis. Mitosis involves the reproduction of a cell into two identical daughter cells. Meiosis, however, is a reduction division where a parental diploid cell produces four haploid gametes. Upon fusion, two haploid gametes (in humans the sperm and the egg) will result in one diploid zygote. In this activity you will track chromosomes through meiosis using colored beads.

Experiment 1

Questions

1. Why is crossing over important in heredity? (10 points)

2. Provide two ways that meiosis I and meiosis II are different. (10 points)

3. (10 points)

a. In the lab, how many chromosomes were present in each cell when meiosis I started?

b. How many chromosomes were present in each daughter cell at the end of meiosis II?

4. If humans have 46 chromosomes in each of their body cells, determine how many chromosomes you would expect to find in the following (10 points):

Sperm:

Egg:

Daughter cell from mitosis:

Daughter cell from meiosis II:

5. Why is it necessary to reduce the chromosome number of gametes, but not of other cells of an organism? (10 points)