Various experiments were conducted in the Cell Biology and Genetics Laboratory including blood grouping, blood smearing, observing osmosis in onion cells, meiosis in plant flower buds, observing Barr bodies, and mitosis in onion root tips. Samples were stained and observed under a light microscope. The first experiment confirmed the student's blood type as B+. Later experiments observed cell structures in blood and stages of cell division like meiosis and mitosis. Facts about each cell or process were also provided. The images were of low quality but provide an overview of the experiments conducted.

2.  Various experiments have been conducted in the
Cell Biology and Genetics Laboratory in VIT ,
Vellore, under the guidance and instructions of
Prof. Gayathri M.

3.  The experiments mostly include simple
staining of various type of cell samples
using simple tools , observance under light
microscope and noting down their
characteristics.

4.  Here I have put forward the microscopic images
and observations in brief, which I have taken
and collected, of the sample cells corresponding
to the several experiments conducted in the lab
till date (Six Experiments).

5. Blood Grouping was the
first experiment that was
conducted. Individual blood
was used as sample.
 My blood type was
confirmed as B+.
Anti serums were the
reagents/ chemicals used to
observed agglutination
which occurred in
Antiserum B and Antiserum
D but not in Antiserum A
(as seen in pic.).

6.  FACTS:
i. 35 blood group systems have been identified. The most familiar is the ABO
system including the Rh systems, and an individual’s blood type is one of the
many possible combinations of blood group antigens.
ii. Across the 35 blood groups, over 600 different blood group antigens have
been discovered.
iii. Almost always, an individual has the same blood group for life, but very
rarely an individual’s blood type changes through addition or suppression of
an antigen in infection, malignancy or autoimmune disease and bone
marrow transplant.
iv. Type O blood must consume a high-protein diet heavy on lean meat ,
poultry, fish vegetable, and light on grains, beans and dairy.
v. A meat free diet rich in fruits and vegetables, beans and legumes, and whole
grains-ideally, organic and fresh should be consume for Type A blood.
vi. Type B blood group should focus on green vegetables, eggs, certain meats
and low fat dairy. Corn, wheat, lentils, tomatoes, peanuts and sesame seeds
must be avoided.
vii. The foetus inside a pregnant woman may have different blood group from
the mother.

7.  Second experiment was
Blood Smearing with
Leishmanns’ stain.
Blood sample was
collected.
The presence of platelets
structures , granulocytes
(neutrophils, eosinophils
and basophils) and
agranulocytes
(lymphocytes and
monocytes) in the blood
sample was observed.

8.  FACTS:
i. The kidney regulates red blood cell production by releasing the hormone
erythropoietin (EPO) which travels to the bone marrow, when the blood
oxygen level is low.
ii. Cytoplasm of erythrocytes are rich in haemoglobin, an iron containing
biomolecule that can bind to the oxygen and is responsible for the red
colour of the cells
iii. The only vertebrate without erythrocytes are the crocodile icefishes (family
Channichthyidae). They live in very oxygen-rich cold water and transport
oxygen freely dissolved in the blood. While they do not use
haemogoblobin anymore, remnants of haemoglobin genes can be found
in the genome.
iv. Erythrocytes in mammals are anucleate when mature as well as
salamanders of Batrachoseps genus and the fish of the Maurolicus genus.
The other vertebrates, on the other hand are nucleated.
v. The elimination of nucleus offers the explanation for subsequent
accumulation of non-coding DNA in the genome.
vi. The human embryonic stem cells could be coax into becoming an
artificial erythrocytes. The cells can be induce to inject their nucleus by
growing the cells on stromal cells from the bone marrow. This was done
for the first time in 2008 and are hoped to be eventually used for blood
transfusions.

9.  The third experiment
was to observe Osmosis in
Onion Cells.
Here two different
conc. of external
solutions (i.e., hypotonic
and hypertonic) is taken,
in which the cell was
immersed for a while.
The cells show
bulkiness and shrinkage
respectively in the two
types of concentrations.

10.  FACTS:
i. The epidermal cells of onions provide a protective
layer against viruses and fungi that may harm the
sensitive tissues.
ii. Onion epidermis is unilayer and does not contain any
chloroplast, because the onion fruiting body (bulb) is
used in storing energy, not photosynthesis.
iii. Vacuole is prominent and present at the centre.
iv. Due to its simple structure and transparency, they are
used in introducing plant anatomy and plasmolysis.

11.  Observance of Meiosis in
Plant Flower Bud was the
fourth experiment.
 Acetocarmine was used
for staining.
Several stages of meiosis
was observed.
The image here
represents Telophase
(either I or II) where
splitting of chromosomes
have already occurred.

12.  FACTS:
i. Meiosis occurs in eukaryotes, however, some mammals do not
have the ability of meiosis and have acquired the ability to
reproduce by parthenogenesis.
ii. First discovered in sea urchin eggs.
iii. Cycling meiosis produces a series of transitions back and forth
between alternating diploid and haploid state.

13. The fifth experiment
was to confirm the
presence and absence of
Barr Bodies in the cells of
female and male
respectively.
Buccal epithelial cells of
each individuals was the
sample, which was
stained with
acetocarmine.
When viewed under the
microscope, there was
lack of barr bodies in the
cells as predicted for
male , however it was
present in female cells.

14.  FACTS:
i. A Barr body is the inactive X chromosome in a female somatic cell, in those
species in which the sex is determined by the presenceof the Y or W rather
than the diploidy of the X.
ii. In cells with multiple X chromosomes all but one are inactivated during
mammalian embryogenesis which happens early in embryonic development at
random in mammals. This is known as Lyon hypothesis.
iii. Lyon hypothesis doe s not correlate in species such as marsupials and in
some extra embryonic tissues of some placental mammals, in which the
fathers’s X chromosome is always deactivated.
iv. In humans with more than one chromosome, the number of Barr bodies visible
at interphase is always fewer than the total number of X chromosomes.
v. Men with Klinefelters syndrome have a single Barr bodies, women have one
and male have none.
vi. Barr bodies can be seen on the nucleus of neutrophil.

15. Mitosis in Onion Root
Tip was the
corresponding sixth
experiment.
The cells were stained
in acetocarmine and
observed under the light
microscope.
Several stages of the
mitotic cell divisions
could be seen as well as
splitting of few cells as
seen in the figure.

16.  FACTS:
i. Mitotic errors can create aneuploid cells that have too few
or manyy of one or more chromosomes.
ii. Anaphase lag occurs when the movement of one chromatid
is impeded during anaphase due to inability to attach the
chromosome to the spindle.
iii. Endoreduplication occurs when chromosomes duplicate but
the cells do not divide which results in polyploidy or, if the
chromosomes divide repeatedly, polytene chromosomes.
iv. Endomitosis is a variant of endoreplication in which the cells
replicate their chromosomes during S phase and enter, but
prematurely terminate, mitosis. Instead of dividing into two
daughter nuclei, the replicated chromosomes are retained
within the original nucleus.

17.  I would like to acknowledge our Cell Biology and
Genetics faculty Prof. Gayathri M. and also the RAs
for their guidance on the subject as well as making it a
fun and enjoyable learning process.

18.  Images taken are of low quality due to low megapixels
of the phone with which they were taken.
 More slides would be uploaded in the future as
experiments continue further in the lab. So keep
following!