Student Blog Post Assignment #6: How Does Your Garden Grow?

Student Blog Post Assignment #6

                                           

The first two of our plants (plants A and B) this week

The third of our plants (plant C) this week

 

     Our plants have certainly been getting bigger and it has become increasingly clear that plants A and B are likely to succeed. Plant C, while only a few inches shorter, looks to be very victimized by insects and just doesn't look as healthy as the other plants. During their growing time, our plants have clearly expanded many times from their original size. How? On the cellular level, the answer is mitosis. Mitosis is the form of cell division that somatic cells use and is what is responsible for our planys getting bigger. When cells divide, they make copies of their organelles and genetic material so that nothing is lost and so that the daughter cell is almost identical to the parent cell. Once this has been done, the cells split off, virtually two of the same at this point. This process requires a lot of energy however. The plants are able to generate this energy using processes such as cellular respiration and photosynthesis. In respiration, plants turn oxygen and glucose into energy, carbon dioxide, and some water. The other means of getting energy is by photosynthesis. During photosynthesis, plant cells use a type of organelle called chloroplasts to turn sunlight into energy for the plant to use making itself bigger.
     When a cell wants to create an enzyme and it has sent a signal to the nucleus, the nucleus sends a signal to the ribosomes. The ribosomes are fitted with the task of creating the enzymes, in this case PEPC and Rubisco, before sending them on to the golgi apparatus through the vesicles. The golgi apparatus makes any needed changes to them, and then sends them through more vesicles to where they are needed in the organism.