Anthers and Stigmas and Styles, Oh My!

Yesterday I dissected a flower from our broccoli plant do figure how the plant and others like reproduce. Throughout the dissection, I got to see each part of the flower that plays an important role in the production.

In order for the plant to reproduce, it needs to combine male gametophytes (pollen)  with female gametophytes. The photo above is an anther which is the producer of pollen. Meiosis occurs in the anther, which in a flower produces haploid male pollen grains.

In the photo above is part of a carpel, the stigma and style. The carpel is the female part of the flower. The stigma is the roundish tip at the end. The stigma is the location of pollination. It is when a grain of pollen lands on the stigma. The style is the long tube that connects the stigma to the ovary when pollination is over, pollen grains will produce pollen tubes. These grow down the style toward the ovary, where they then release sperm cells

The photo above is a photo of the bottom of the carpel, the ovary. Within the ovary there are small little ovules. The ovary is where the female gametophytes are produced.

 Now that I have covered all of the main components of the flower reproductive system, we can now talk about it happens. The flower is an angiosperm, which mean the reproductive system happens within the flower. It starts when a mature plant produces a flower. The flower now contains all of the things we discussed earlier. It has the male anatomy, the anthers, and the female anatomy, the carpel. The carpel is surrounded by the anthers, which makes a easy transfer of the male. Inside each of the anthers, every cell goes through meiosis which produces four haploid cells, also known as spores. One spore cell is the same as one grain of pollen. Pollen grains make up the entire male gametophytes, and they will keep growing until they are released and transferred to the stigma. Inside of the ovary of the flower, ovules develop into eight nuclei through a series of divisions. These nuclei and their surrounding membrane create the embryo sac. The embryo sac contains a female gamete, or the egg cell. After the pollen tubes enter the stigma, they access the embryo sac When this happens it creates a zygote which is a fertile egg and the process is repeated

Anthers and Stigmas and Styles, Oh My!

My partner, Celi, and I picked a broccoli flower from the garden to examine and dissect. Before dissecting, we read about the reproductive anatomy of the flower. Flowers have both male and female parts, the male parts are called the anthers and the female parts are the stigma, style and ovaries. Below are pictures we took of the flowers reproductive anatomy through a microscope.

 This picture shows the carpel, which contains the stigma and style. The style is the long tube in the middle and the stigma is the green point at the end of that tube. 

This picture shows the anthers. The anthers are the frilly, curly tips to all the long tubes. 

In this picture, the ovaries are seen inside of the style. The ovaries are little beads located at the base of the style.

 This picture just shows the flower before dissection. The flower is from a broccoli plant in our garden.

Flowers are angiosperms, which means that they reproduce within themselves. Each flower contains all the necessary female and male parts to reproduce. As you know, the male parts are called the anthers. The anthers produce and store all of the flower's pollen.The female part of a flower is called the carpel. it is the innermost part of the flower and is home to all of the female reproductive organs. Inside of the carpel is the style, and inside of the base of the style are the ovaries. The ovaries are responsible for producing female gametophytes for the flowers reproduction. The carpel leo contains the stigma, which is located at the tops of the style. The stigma is a sticky ball that is responsible for collecting pollen. Once the female and male parts of the flower have worked together to produce gametophytes and pollen, the pollination process can begin. Pollination is different for every flower, some flowers spread pollen through the wind, while others use animals like bees. Overall, the flower is able to survive and populate with only the anatomy in itself.

Anthers and Stigmas and Styles, Oh My!

Today, my lab partner, Morgan, and I dissected a flower from the WGHS Gold Garden. We chose a flower from the broccoli plant. Over the dissection, we got to see each part of the flower and then we learned their functions. Through the following pictures, I will explain and show the anatomy of the flower and their role in reproduction.

This is the whole flower at 20x magnification. Inside you can see the top of the stamen, called the anthers. They hold the pollen, which is the grainy-type thing on the anthers.

This is the anther at 40x magnification. This gives us a better look at the pollen.  Anthers are oval sacs in which meiosis takes place. Meiosis in a flower produces haploid male  pollen grains. The middle picture is a close-up picture of pollen.

This picture shows the style and the stigma, part of the carpel. Carpels are also known as pistils, and they are the female parts of the flower. On the right side of the picture, it shows the stigma, the roundish part at the top with the opening at the top; the style is the stalk. The pollen from the anthers usually lands on the top of the stigma, which is sticky. 

To the left is a 40x magnification of the ovary, at the bottom of the carpel. Below is another picture of the ovary, as well as the ovules from inside the ovary. The ovary is another part of the plant where female gametophytes are produced. Pollen is the male gametophyte.

Now that you understand the basic anatomy and functions of a flower's reproductive organs, it is time to explain the whole process. 

This flower is an angiosperm, which means the reproductive process takes place within the flower. It starts when a mature plant produces flowers. Each of the flowers has the male anatomy, the anthers, and the female anatomy, the carpel. Inside of the anthers, every cell goes through meiosis an this produces 4 haploid spore cells. One spore cell is equivalent to one grain of pollen. Pollen grains make up the entire male gametophytes, and they continue to grow until they are released and are transferred to the stigma. Within the ovary of the flower, ovules develop into eight nuclei through a series of divisions. These nuclei and their surrounding membrane create the embryo sac. The embryo sac contains a female gamete, or the egg cell. After the pollen tubes enter the stigma, they access the embryo sac. This creates a zygote which evolves into a seed. Then the cycle starts over again.  

Who Wants to Live a Million Years: Analysis of a Natural Selection Simulation

1. It took four tries for my species to survive a million years. If my species did not have the needed genes to get through a catastrophic event and could not adapt quickly enough, they would die. I believe this is definitely true for any real species. 
2. The successful phenotypes I chose were long legs, long necks, stripes, fur and fat. These phenotypes showed the widest variety which was necessary since i could not predict what would happen. I knew my species needed to be ready for anything. Long legs and camouflaging stripes allowed the species to run and hide. A long neck helped the species reach fruit high in trees, and the fur and fat kept them warm in cold weather.
3. I do not think that my species would be greatly affected by genetic drift. The species was well rounded enough to be prepared for almost any sudden catastrophic event. 
4. The dominant phenotypes seemed to be fur and long legs. They appeared most commonly, almost always being present. A long neck seemed to be recessive. It randomly appeared even if it was not an original phenotype or had been absent for awhile.
5. A: fat and fur, B: slim with no extra body fat, C: camouflaging stripes and long legs, D: long neck and tall
6. I believe this game would be more realistic if the phenotypes were less predictable. Adding in mutations or harmful phenotypes might enhance the stimulation.

GATTACA Essay

    The question I have chosen to answer is about the symbiotic relationship between Jerome and Vincent, and how it benefits them, what they get out of it, and how this concept defies the rules of biology. Both Vincent and Jerome lack an emotional or physical quality. Jerome being the brawnier of the two, and Vincent the brain. Both men lack the other quality (brawn or brain) and have therefore struggled to accomplish their dreams. Therefore when they become “one person” they create the perfect being.

Vincent has never been especially athletic, while Jerome was a champion swimmer. Unfortunately Jerome became paralyzed from the waist down in a car wreck and has no more use for his remarkable strength, until he gives it to Vincent. Vincent is able to use Jeromes steady heartbeat and perfect genes to disguise his scrawny muscles and weak heart. With his new physical statistics he is able to accomplish his dreams. Jerome is able to feed off of Vincents energy through the experience and get a taste of inspiration and motivation, both being emotional traits he lacked.

Vincent had always been an “in-valid” outsider, and Jerome was now crippled. In other words both men seemed to have no life purpose, until they met each other. Their qualities balanced each other out, they experienced not only success, but also friendship for the first time. This feeling of utter, achievement and fulfilment gave the men more of a purpose in life. For the first time they saw what beauty the world had to offer, they found a spark in life.

The idea that two people can act as one person questions the logic behind biology. The fact that Vincent was able to use Jeromes DNA to disguise as him is quite remarkable. it basically says that your inherited genes don’t matter if you can just find others to use. A person would also be able to easily steal identities with just some DNA. Any biological test could be passed, your hereditary traits would essentially mean nothing.

In conclusion, Jerome and incent are able to complete each other. They physically and emotionally morph into one being. Jerome is able to live out his dream through Vincent, and Vincent can accomplish his thanks to Jerome. Both men give an equal amount and receive an equal amount. They discover both friendship and inspiration.

GATTACA essay

The human spirit – Anyone can overcome great adversity and there is no gene for the human spirit. Consider Vincent’s imperfections and strong will to live and chase after his goals and Jerome’s perfection, lack of desire, addiction, and depression.

In the movie GATTACA humans have added a new norm two their society.  Unnatural selection and genetically modifying humans.  The result, a perfect human being.  No flaws or imperfections, the best of what you could ever reproduce.  however some couples choose natural selection. An example of this happening was a boy name Vincent he was born through in a natural way, but he was born with many flaws. The most obvious was his physical disability. He also had a brother but he was born through unnatural selection and was perfect. Vincent also met a man named Jerome who was the best of the best and he had everything going for him but one thing.

Even in the future there is still discrimination but this time it is down to the genes. People who are born through unnatural selection instantly have more opportunity that natural born people. For example Vincent was a janitor for the longest time and he wasn’t even allowed to get a chance to be interviewed. How ever there is one thing that will truly show which human was the best. Natural born or unnatural born. It is the person’s will to succeed. Because the unnatural born people had everything for them and didn’t have to strive for greatness because they had it since birth they end having no drive. However a person who has had nothing, had to work and claw his way to the top, he is the one who possesses the passion.

A great example of a person who has had everything since birth is Jerome. Jerome is a person who is the spitting image of perfect. Except for four things. His legs no longer worked and the fact that he had no determination, depression and addiction. He was addicted to drinking and smoking and he was extremely depressed. It didn’t matter how smart or athletic he was never going to be the best. He said that “Jerome Morrow was never meant to be one step down on the podium.” The act that he lacked desire meant he was never going to be on the top. So in reality it doesn’t matter if you’re perfect in everything else. You need to have a goal or desire that you must reach.

Vincent was a person who was born with many imperfections, which makes him the exact opposite of Jerome. Vincent had a heart condition, but his biggest setback was the discrimination that was posed against him. How ever this ended up aiding Vincent in the end. What it did was force him to work extra hard to be the best. His strong will to live and never to give up made him a better worker than his brother and Jerome. Vincent never quite and kept striving to be his best.  

So in the end it seemed to appear a person born through genetic modification is almost at a disadvantage towards natural born people. The passion, determination and the will to succeed are the only things that you need to be successful. The human spirit, it decides whether are not a human will succeed in life. Not the human anatomy.

A Matter of Selection

In the Willow Glen Garden we have been growing a species of plant called brassica oleracea. From the time we first planted the seed and when they first sprouted, we could not notice any real differences.  However, now that they have grown almost to adult hood there are quite a bit of differences between them.  Because we have just finished our unit of genetics I can now look at these changes in more depth and understand how they happened.  One of the largest distinctions that I have noticed was the  leaves growing on the plants themselves.  Each family of brassica oleracea has a different sized leaf and shape.

Broccoli: Leaves vary from 20 to 30 cm long and 15 to 20cm wide. With green leaves and light green stem.

Kholrabi:  Leaves vary from 30 to 40 cm long and 15 to 25cm wide. They have purple stems and dark green leaves.

Dino Kale: Leaves vary from 35 to 45 cm long and 8 to 13cm wide. The leaves are always very narrow and dark green with a light green stem.

Green Cabbage: Leaves vary from 25 to 30 cm long and 15 to 20 cm wide. The leaves are dark green with light green stems.

Siberian Kale: Leaves vary from 25 to 30 cm long and 10 to 15 cm long. With dark green leave and purple stems. The leaves are also have ruffled edges.

Purple Cabbage: Leaves very form 15 to 20 cm long and 15 to 22 cm wide. With purple leaves and stem.

The data shows that all of the plants have different sized and shaped leaves.  A dino kale has long skinny leaves, but the cabbage has short wide leaves.  The characteristic that shows that largest range is the size of the plant.  One plant like to broccoli can be up to 3 feet tall where as the cabbage can only reach about one foot.

The reason why all of these plants have such different structures is because of the fact that their genes had to change because they were always having to adapt to their new environment.  Natural variation forms when there is a natural force that is affecting the species enough to make it adapt and change.  Because of this change it is common for more than one population of the same species to form.  Our plants that we are growing are great example of this.  Because natural forces it had to adapt.  However not all of the species went through the same natural force, making different populations with different characteristics.  To adapt the plant went through a number of mutations until one of them benefited the plant.  It can also be considered descent with modification.  Each generation becomes better suited to it's environment.  Another reason why there is such a large variation is because of us.  To make harvesting or anything easier they would use a process called artificial selection.  To produce a desired outcome they would change the plants anatomy. An example of this is the case with cabbage.  Humans had genetically modified it so that the buds would grow closer together. This type of selective breeding is the reason why there are so many species of brassica oleracea. 

Out of all the plants one characteristic that seemed to stay the same was the color of either the stem or the plant's leaves. The all had darker green or light green parts.  An example of this is the broccolis or cabbages that had green stems while the others had different colored stems but green leaves. I believe the reason why the one thing that they did not change was color because it never really had a reason to change. What ever thing that was making the plants adapt, must of not have need the color to adapt as well.

In order for a scientist to get a desired trait from the plant they could use a variety of methods. One could be that they move all of the plants into an environmental biome where it would force the plants to go under numerous mutations. A more modern and scientific way is that scientist could find a desirable trait, and then imbed it into the plant.   

Matter of Selection

I have observed that the shape  of the leaves seems to be the most different throughout the Brassica Oleracea plants. There appears to be four different leaf styles, bumpy, frilly, oval and long and skinny. Out of color, stem build and height, leave shape has proven to show the most variety, most of the colors are green or purple, stems are mostly thick with branches, and the plant heights all range from 1 foot to 3 feet.  

FRILLY

BUMPY

OVAL

FRILLY

LONG AND SKINNY

I believe the reason for this variety is natural variations. Each plant serves its own purpose and has to survive its own way. So they have they will each have their own structure that allows them to do so. For example, all the plants hold water and protect themselves differently, so the veins and structure of their veins are different. Other factors such as environment and sun exposure may affect things like the height of a plant. plants that rehire a lot of sun will grow taller than those shorter plants shaded by over things. 

Throughout all the plants, the color of dark green stays eminent. Every plant has at least a little bit of dark green somewhere. Most appear on the stems if not on the leaves, for example, cauliflower and broccoli which have flowers instead of leaves, have dark green stems. Others types of broccoli and kohlrabi have purple stems and green leaves.

Selective breeders could create variety through the environment in which the plants must survive. If the plants were all put in an environment alien to all the plants, then they would create the same adaptations. For example, if one were to put all the plants into an environment with a lot of shade, the plants may grow taller so they can reach the sunlight, dew and rain water.

  

A Matter of Selection

         Over many years, brassica oleracea have evolved into many different species. Sometimes it might even be difficult to notice that the plants are from the same family. Over the past week, I performed some research on the brassica oleracea species growing in the WGHS GOLD Garden. Surprisingly, the largest variation in characteristic between all the plants were the leaves. The greatest range of variation was also seen between the leaves.

KOHLRABI:
Leaves-

• 34 cm long, 20.5 cm wide
• dark green
• spread far apart from each other
• purple stems

SIBERIAN KALE:
Leaves-
 

• 27.5 cm long, 13 cm wide
• rough texture, ruffled edges
• dark green leaves, bright purple stem
• purple stems

DINO KALE:
Leaves-

• 38 cm long, 8 cm wide
• very dark green
• narrow
• textured leaves
• light green stem

CABBAGE (green):
Leaves-

• 26.4 cm long, 18 cm wide
• close together
• medium green color
• light green stem
  

BROCCOLI:

Leaves-

• 27 cm long, 16 cm wide
• medium green 
• spread apart
• light green stem
  

PURPLE CABBAGE:

Leaves-

• 19 cm long, 17 cm wide
• close together
• purple leaves and stem

CAULIFLOWER:

Leaves-

• 25 cm long, 11 cm wide
• leaves fairly close together, but as the plant grows taller, flowers spread farther apart
• light green leaves and stem

        As the data above shows,  the variations among the leaf characteristics (size/shape) are very large. There is the cauliflower with short narrow leaves, the kale with ruffled edges, and the cabbages with wide leaves close together. The characteristic that exhibits the greatest number of variations was the appearance of the leaves. The largest range of variation is the size of the overall plant. The cabbages only grow to be a few feet tall, but the broccoli grow twice that height.

       All of these plants are so different because over time, their genes changed to become accustomed to new environments. Humans might also have caused artificial selection among the plants over time. They modified plants' genes to produce a desired outcome. For example, naturally, cauliflower and broccoli usually don't have their flower buds so compressed together. However, over time humans changed these plants to have the flower buds close together to create a "little tree." This type of selective breeding has produced different forms of brassica oleracea. Even though most plants today are modified in some way, plants can also evolve into different species through descent with modification. If a plant is forced to adapt to a new environment or an unpredictable change in population occurs, one type of plant or trait within a species might become the more dominant gene. When the offspring are bred, they have a high chance of not being exactly the same as their parents. Their genes will have shifted to accommodate new changes and this process is repeated through all generations. With natural variations, mutations can occur and this is also a reason why the plants become so different. 

      The color of the plants were the most consistent because they are all close together in shades of green. They go from light green to dark green, then gradually change to purple. All of these colors are similar in some way. The anatomy of the plant that is the most the same is the bulb of the bottom of the plants. They are all about 15 cm across and 10 cm tall. All of these bulbs are above the soil and thick and round. The only difference is the color of the bulb. 

      In order to get the characteristics breeders want in plants, they use modern technology to find the traits inside other plants and transfer them into the desired plant. Once they find the trait and it is implanted into the plant, they have to multiply their supply of this new mutation. This process, selective breeding or artificial selection, produces a new variation of an old plant. Scientists are able to do this fro any trait. 

Who Wants To Live A Million Years: Analysis Of A Natural Selection Simulation

1. How many generations did it take for you to finally win a game? Why do you think it took this long? What do you think this means/suggests for most real species on Earth in terms of their species's chances of long-term survival?
2. It took me 3 generations to finally get a group to survive a million years. I believe it took me so long because I didn’t really know all of the limiting factors and I also wasn’t sure what body traits worked the best. I can apply this to real animals and understand that it make take a few tries for a species to make a descendant that works best in it’s environment. This also shows that not all species will be able to survive because they didn’t adapt the quickest. For example, I could add one animal with a desired trait and the population that breed the quickest with that animal would survive.

    2. Which initial phenotypes/phenotype combinations did you select and    

         why?Which starting/initial combinations seemed to allow you to

         continue/survive the longest (win the most games)? Why do you think this

         was so? The phenotypes that I used were, one animal with long legs  

         that was thicker and had stripes. The second animal had long legs

         and a long  neck with stripes and was skinny. My final animal was

         short and very fat  with stripes. I believe that this group worked

         because there was a larger diversity which made the chance of one

         or two animals that had the phenotype that could survive all of the

         limiting factors.

3. Do you think this population of theoretical creatures would be greatly affected by genetic drift? What evidence of drift did you see as you played the game (simulation)? I definitely believe that the population was affected by genetic drift. Some drift factors were the meteorite, volcano, ice age and the extreme heat.
4. Which alleles/phenotypes seemed to be dominant and which seemed to be recessive? How could you tell? The tall, fat and the striped genotype all seemed to be dominate because they appeared the most often een though I paired that genotype with other ones like skinny and stipless
5. Match the environments/situations/conditions below with their corresponding adaptations:

        (a) cold conditions; (b) hot conditions; (c) new large predator on the scene; (d) new tall food source

         (a)= short with short legs. Thicker/fatter. More fur.

(b)= skinnier. Long legs. Long necks.

(c )= Long legs. skinnier. stripes.

(d)= Tall legs. long necks

6. How would you improve this simulation to more realistically represent natural selection and biological evolution? Discuss at least three improvements.One improvement could be that they could add another species that could be in competition with them. A second improvement could be that the population had to migrate to another terrain or an area with different geographic features. Or an event where humans come in and take all their living space.

Who Wants to Live a Million Years: Analysis of a Natural Selection Simulation

On my fourth generation, and fourth try, I finally survived for 1,000,000 years. It took this long for me to figure out that I need a lot of genetic diversity to have a better chance at surviving. This indicates that today's species need to have diversity to survive. Humans do not have very much genetic diversity, but we have a very large population and a high growth rate, which allows us to thrive. There are many events that can come suddenly (tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, volcanoes) that can put a major dent in a population if they don't have the right traits.
Initially, I started out with little diversity. The majority of my choices were short, with plain fur. However, I also had at least one tall creature in each round, and this is the one I found to survive the longest. This phenotype was able to survive all events except the cold. The long legs made the animal fast, while the height helped it stay cool in the heat and reach tall plants.
Genetic Drift played a major role in this game of chance. The more events that occurred, the more likely the chances of genetic drift were. When catastrophic events, such as volcanic eruptions, happened, some of the population died off unexpectedly. The few organisms that die, die with their genes, and all of their diversity.
The dominant traits in this game included long legs and fur. These were most frequently seen over the generations, and they were the most beneficial. Long legs can be used to run away from things and to stay warm, and fur can be used to stay warm. Because of this, when the years passed, these creatures evolved to have fur and longer legs. The most recessive trait in this game was stripes. Even if you started out with a striped creature, they disappeared quickly.
The traits needed for cold conditions were short legs, fur, and extra fat. These helped keep the creature warm in this harsh environment. The fat would act as the extra food storage for the animal, if food wasn't available. In the heat, the creatures did not need extra fat or fur because they needed to stay cool. Long legs also helped the animal stay cool. Besides helping in the heat, long legs were also needed to run away from new predators. Stripes helped the creature stay hidden in their surroundings when their enemy was on the hunt. When a new tall food source evolved, long necks or long legs were necessary to reach the food.
After attempting this game over 20 times, I have a few suggestions that could make this game more realistic. My first suggestion is to have more little events, such as common natural disasters. To make this possible there would need to be multiple habitats that the creatures would have to adapt to. Over the course of the game the creatures would be forced to migrate to a new region due to an outside force coming in. A force that could be part of the game to make it have real-life conditions would be humans. They ruin many animals' habitats each day, so it only seems fit to have them be part of the game.

The Consequences of Genetic Engineering

GATTACA; Some see this word as a title for a famous movie about a flawed society, while others see the actual meaning behind the word: it is all four bases of DNA. In this film, DNA plays a major role, as the whole plot revolves around people’s genetic makeup. Most parents genetically engineer their children so that they can be the best they can be. While some people believe that by genetically engineering their children, they are giving them the best possible life, I strongly believe that genetically engineering children is unnatural and comes with many consequences.

When parents decide to engineer their child before they are born, they do no think about how abnormal the process has become. It is like a game; if they want to make a child, they go to a genetic engineer and get to hand-pick the traits of their child. They can even change the phenotype of their children by asking for blue eyes, or a certain hair color. In GATTACA, Vincent’s parents go to an engineer for their second child, Anton. They had the option to choose from 4 embryos, two male and two female. Obviously, they chose the male so that Vincent could have a stronger brother. At first they were apprehensive about the process, as they should be, but then decided on it. Engineered children do not have the chance to shape their lives, and they are forced to live an unnatural, predecided life.

Not single person, not even a genetically engineered person, is perfect; everyone has flaws. As shown in the movie, nobody is ever happy. They also never have any fun. This is a consequence of the genetic engineering. As the kids grow up, they are told specifically what they can or cannot due because of their genes. This takes away their will to be creative and experience new things. As Jerome pointed out, he had all the things (genes/traits) necessary to work in GATTACA, except the will. The same sort of situation occurred when Vincent and Anton swam in the ocean for the last time. Vincent was able to swim further because he had the determination to do so. Anton had always believed that because he had superior genes, he would always win. He never focused on the fact that you also need the will to win. This illustrates a major flaw in all genetically engineered people.

Part of being a parent is molding your children into the people they become as adults. If you were to engineer your child, this opportunity would be taken away from you instantly. Along with the happiness parents bring to their children’s lives, these kids who are engineered would already know what they are capable of before they have the chance to achieve it. Jerome Morrow had the perfect DNA to go up into space, so that is what was expected of him his whole life. Another example is the twelve-fingered piano player.  His parents might have given him the extra finger so that he would be an excellent piano player before he was even born. These are the kinds of traits that parents should teach their children, not unnaturally add to their appearance or DNA. Parents should be be parents and shape their children into the person they will become.

Since parent’s are the first ones to decide how to create their child, they choose whether or not they should be genetically modified. I believe genetically engineering children is unnatural. It can lead to an unhappy life in which children are not able to do anything they wish; their futures are based on their genes. Parents should be able to shape their kids’ lives without the extra help of engineering. Would you want  your child to be genetically engineered?