Meiosis in Motion

Goal: Create a Visual for Meiosis that moves through the phases in some type of animation.

Thanks for my wonderful Group-mate for this- Carly!

Meiosis in Motion- Carly Baumann and Serena Grown-Haeberli from Serena G-H on Vimeo.

In our bodies, the cells, meant for reproduction undergo the process of Meiosis. This process results in 4 Haploid daughter cells. A normal cell in your body has 2N Chromosomes (46 for humans). Reproductive cells, or gametes, have N. In order to reach a haploid state with four cells, they divide twice. In Interphase I (in the S phase, which stands for synthesis) , cells replicate their DNA, producing a cell with 4N chromosomes. This cell then experiences Prophase I, where the nuclear membrane disappears. Unique to Meiosis, Prophase one contains a sub-section called “crossing over” in which the sets of duplicated homologous chromosomes exchange genes randomly. This contributes to the diversity of offspring. In Metaphase, the next step of Meiosis, the chromosomes align on the Metaphase Plate in “tetrads” (groups of two sister chromatid sets). Metaphase is followed by Anaphase, where the chromosomes (still in sister chromatids) are pulled apart by the spindle fibers toward the poles, where the centrosomes have migrated too. The cell reforms it’s nuclear membrane and recedes it’s spindle fibers, then the cell membrane pinches in, which occurs in Telophase and Cytokinesis. The process repeats itself again with the resulting two cells, they lose their nuclear membranes again in Prophase II, the chromosomes (sister chromatids) realign for Metaphase II, though this time not in tetrads, the split apart into chromosomes, and are pulled in Anaphase II to opposite poles, where the cell divides once more in Telophase II. This results in four daughter cells, which form nuclear membranes, unravel the chromosomes to form chromatin, and reform nucleoli.

This project process taught me a lot, both about Meiosis and about animation. It was a lot of work to piece together enough photos to make it look like movement was occurring, but I am satisfied with the finished product. I would like to work in future toward keeping the picture more still, and figuring out a way to label the pieces throughout without it being distracting. Carly and I worked well together, and it was nice to have a partner to  work with. I enjoyed this process. I got a chance to Explore Meiosis, Dream up an animation and the tools to make one, and Examine how cells in our bodies work.

Explore, Dream, Examine

-Serena