Compound Light Microscope Pictures

This is Cory looking at pollen under the microscope.

This is a photo taken by me of Calla Lily pollen at 400x.

This is a photo taken by me of Asian Lily pollen at 400x.

This is a photo taken by me of Daylily pollen at 400x.

Addendum 1/10/14

Today, Cory and Sophie edited the procedure. We plan to take pictures at 400x soon, because we missed that station.

Analysis of Phylogenetic Trees

(Program used: Jalview)

(Program used: UniProt)

After making two trees (one being based on pollen while the other is based on plant sequences) we, as a group, were a little surprised with the differences in results. The "guide tree" we made on UniProt and the official tree we made on Jalview showed that the Calla lily and Asian lily is more similar than the Daylily. It caught our attention because we all thought the Daylilies and Asian lilies would have much more in common with each other. Not only does their pollen look almost identical, but they also share most of the same physical attributes.

As a group, we came to the conclusion that we trust the results of our pollen tree more than the alignment because we can actually look at the similarities and differences using a SEM with our own eyes rather than trusting the tree based protein alignments. If the alignments were correct than that would throw us for a loop and we all would want to further investigate this to figure out and understand exactly what makes Calla lilies more similar to Asian lilies than Asian lilies being similar to the Daylilies.

Experimental Data Analysis

The Data shows that Daylilies have monoculpate pollen with a regulate/rugulate texture, Calla Lilies have inaperturate pollen with a psilate/scabrate texture, and Asiatic Lilies have monoculpate pollen with a regulate texture. Daylily pollen is around 49.5μm wide and 122.0μm long. Calla Lily pollen is approximately 33.2μm wide and 29.1μm long. Asiatic Lily pollen is close to 35.6μm wide and 117.0μm long. Both the Daylily and Asiatic Lily pollen were monocolpate, whereas the Calla Lily pollen was inaperturate.

Our Data cannot fully support either hypothesis, and instead seems to half-support both of them. The Daylily and Asiatic Lily pollen supported the hypothesis that they were closely related with their regulate texture and monocolpate apertures. The pollens are also similar in size. On the other hand, the Calla Lily has psilate/scabrate texture, inaperturate surface, and a much smaller size, supporting the hypothesis that the different lilies will have different pollens.

Pictures of the Flowers

Asian Lily Source

 Calla Lily Source

Daylily Source

Evolutionary Tree Based on Pollen Morphology

Tree

Procedure

How we prepared the sample for the SEM

• We put the carbon tape on the stub 
• We divided the carbon tape into three sections to receive the three different types of pollen
• We took the dried Hemerocallis, Zantedeschia aethiopica, and Lilium asiatica samples that Ms. Lindahl already had and used individual paintbrushes to put the three pollen samples on their sections of the carbon tape.
• We blew the sample with compressed air to blow off any loose pollen grains and to push the pollen grains further onto the carbon tape.

(photo credit to Sophie, model is Liam the Great)

• The software that we used for taking 35x photographs was LeicaEZ4 HD. We put the different samples on petri dishes and then looked at them on the screen of the computer. 
• Then we focused the image, found the pollen in the sample, and zoomed in to 35x. We refocused on the pollen, and took photos of the sample. 
• Then we repeated with another lily sample.

• The software that we used for taking SEM photographs was FEI Phenom Pro. 
• When we took the pictures on the SEM, we were looking for the 3 samples of daylily, asian lily and calla lily pollen to take more in depth look at whether or not our hypothesis is correct. 
• We photographed the pollen at different magnifications to look at the size, shape, and texture of the pollen grains to compare and contrast them to one another.

Addendum 12/20/13

Today, Sophie worked on coloring and posting SEM photos. Liam and I made and posted the table. Cory and I started working on the procedure. 

Pollen Table

Pollen Table

SEM Microscope Pictures

These are photos taken with the FEI Phenom Pro SEM Microscope:

This is a photo taken by me of Asian Lily pollen.

This is a photo taken by me of measurements of Asian Lily pollen.

This is a photo taken by me of the Asian Lily pollen up close.

This is a photo taken by me of Asian Lily pollen at 2000x.

This is a picture taken by me of Calla Lily pollen.

This is a photo taken by me of the measurements of Calla Lily pollen at 2000x.

This is a photo taken by me of the Calla Lily pollen close up.

This is a photo taken by me of the Daylily pollen.

This is a photo taken by me of the measurements of the Daylily pollen.

This is a photo taken by me of the Daylily pollen close up.

This is a photo taken by me of Daylily pollen at 2000x.

Addendum 12/18/13

Today, Liam posted the background information and is starting to make the table, Cory posted the hypothesis, Sophie posted different pictures. We also used the SEM. Cory was the recorder, Sophie was the SEM operator and photographer, and Liam was the data collector.

Hypothesis

• The pollen will all be different. 
• If this is supported, all the pollens will be different with no resemblance to eachother.
• If this is rejected, two or more of the pollens will have resemblance to each other or show signs of a common ancestor.

• The pollen will be similar because they share a common ancestor.
•  If this is supported, two  or more of the pollens will have resemblance to each other or show signs of a common ancestor.
• If this is rejected, all the pollens will be difference with no resemblance to each other.

Edit: December 20th

The first hypothesis is Liam's

The second hypothesis is that of the rest of the group

Photos From Leica Microscope

These are photos taken by the Leica Microscope EZ4 HD, and edited using the Leica imaging 1.0 program.

This is a photo taken by Liam of the Asian Lily anther and pollen.

This is a photo taken by Sapphira of an Asian Lily filament.

This is a photo taken by Sapphira of an Asian Lily petal.

This is a photo taken by Sapphira of a Calla Lily Stigma.

This is a photo taken by Sapphira of a Calla Lily Ovary.

This is a photo taken by Liam of a Calla Lily anther and pollen.

This is a photo taken by Liam of a Daylily anther and pollen.

This is a photo taken by me of our stub. the pollen between 1 and 2 is Calla Lily, between 2 and 3 is Daylily, and between 3 and 1 is Asian Lily.

Background info on the amazing flower of the lily.

Growing from bulbs, lily flowers blossom between spring and autumn, with different varieties opening at different times. They come in a variety of colors, including white, yellow, orange, red, pink, violet and blue. Some flowers are speckled or spotted. These flowers often have a trumpet shape, with showy petals that curl outwards and a drooping style. Their stamen and pistils are prominent.

Lilium flowers need well-drained soil with lots of organic matter, which enriches the soil with nutrients and keeps it moist. In cool climates, full sun is best, but lilies can tolerate partial shade in warm places. In addition to regular watering.

Information cred: 
http://homeguides.sfgate.com/information-lily-flowers-44001.html
http://www.flowers.org.uk/flowers/flowers-names/i-l/lily/
http://www.aboutflowers.com/flower-a-plant-information-and-photos/flowers/lily.html

Team Agreement

Liam has set up and designed the blog. He will also be writing the background to help us have a strong hypothesis.

Sophie has posted our question. She will also be posting different pictures throughout the lab to show what we are doing. Her pictures will show all of the steps we are taking and different samples with captions stating what it is. 

Sapphira is in charge of writing the team agreement.

Cory is in charge of writing the hypothesis.

Cory and I will also be working together to post anything else we feel as though we need to go over or need to be posted.