THE CELL CYCLE: MITOSIS

Cells Divide and Cells Die

• Your cells are rapidly dying and
being replaced.
Sexual Life Cycles include Mitosis, Meiosis, and Fertilization
Somatic cells undergo mitosis.
Mitosis Has Many Roles

Mitotic cell divisions allow an organism to grow and develop,

repair tissues, and regenerate lost body parts. Some
organisms reproduce asexually by mitosis.
Cell Death is Part of Life

Apoptosis, or
programmed cell
death, carves out
distinctive
structures.
Bacteria and Archaea Divide by Binary Fission
DNA Replication Precedes Cell Division

For each of the daughter

cells from this division to
have identical DNA, the cell
must first replicate its
genome.
Phases of the Cell Cycle
• The cell cycle consists of:
– Interphase – normal cell activity
• G1 (first gap) – primary growth phase
• S – synthesis; DNA replicated
• G2 (second gap) – secondary growth
phase
– Mitotic phase – cell division
• The cell grows during all three phases,
but chromosomes are duplicated only
during the S phase
Mitotic Stage
• The stage includes mitosis (nuclear division) and
cytokinesis (division of the cytoplasm)
• Daughter chromosomes are distributed by the mitotic
spindle to two daughter nuclei
• When division of cytoplasm is complete, two daughter
cells are present
• G0 phase – period in the cell cycle in which
cells exist in a quiescent stage (resting period,
period of inactivity); cell is neither dividing nor
preparing to divide
Mitotic Division Generates Exact Cell Copies
M Phase: Stages of Mitosis
• Prophase
• Metaphase
• Anaphase
• Telophase
• Cytokinesis

A replicated chromosome
The goal of mitosis is to distribute a complete
set of genetic instructions – one copy of each
chromosome – to two daughter cells.
Stages of Mitosis
• Although we describe them as stages, the process is
actually continuous: there’s no clear beginning or end to
each phase.
Prophase

1. The chromatin, a loose complex of DNA and protein

molecules in the nucleus, becomes more condensed.
2. The nuclear membrane breaks down.
3. The two microtubule organizing centers (centrosomes
in animal cells), which were positioned near the
nucleus, begins to move apart.
Prophase: (2n=4) How many chromosomes does the cell have?
Prophase
4. Finally, microtubules begin to grow from each microtubule
organizing center, extending toward the opposite pole.
Metaphase
• Spindle fibers that have attached to a kinetochore pull the
chromosome toward the microtubule-organizing center.
• The resulting tug-of-war between these opposing forces
drives the chromosomes into the middle of the cell so that
they line up on a plane, equidistant from each microtubule-
organizing center, called the metaphase plate.
Metaphase: (2n=4) How many chromosomes does the cell have?
Metaphase
The period when the chromosomes are aligned is called metaphase,
but it doesn’t last long, because almost as soon as the
chromosomes are in position, anaphase begins.
Anaphase
• A protein called cohesin keeps the sister
chromatids tightly paired until anaphase.
• Cohesin breaks down at the start of anaphase and
the sister chromatids separate.
Cohesin
Anaphase
• The microtubules attached to each kinetochore are
exerting force and the separated sister chromatids are
quickly dragged toward opposite poles of the cell.
• This movement is responsible for the V-shaped
appearance of the chromatids – now considered to be
chromosomes – as they move to the ends of the cell.
Anaphase: (2n=4) How many chromosomes does the cell have?
Anaphase
• Microtubules are highly dynamic
structures: they can lengthen as
individual tubulin proteins are
added to one or both ends, and
they can shorten as tubulin
proteins are shed from one or
both ends.
Anaphase

Animal Cells Plant Cells

Some microtubules Plant cells, which are
that run from pole to surrounded by a
pole during rigid cell wall, don’t
anaphase makes the change their overall
cell more elongated. shape.
Telophase
• The two sets of chromosomes approach the cell poles
and the events of prophase happen in reverse.
• Nuclear envelopes form around the separated
chromosomes.
• Chromosomes begin to uncoil into masses of chromatin.
Telophase
After Telophase & Cytokinesis: (2n=4) How many chromosomes does each
cell have?
Cytokinesis
• Cell division isn’t complete until the cytoplasm divides.
• Cytokinesis typically begins during anaphase or telophase.
Cytokinesis in Animal Cells
• A ring of microfilaments contracts around the center of the dividing
cell.
• Microfilaments, thin strands of the protein actin, help determine cell
shape.
• The microfilament ring pinches the cell roughly in half. A cleavage
furrow forms.
• Each daughter cell receives a portion of the parent cell’s plasma
membrane and cytoplasm (which contains organelles like
mitochondria, ER, lysosomes, and so on).
Cytokinesis in Plant Cells
• Plant cells can’t pinch in half because they are surrounded by a rigid
cell wall.
• Instead, a cell plate forms midway between the 2 daughter nuclei.
• Vesicles in the cytoplasm deliver cell wall material to the cell plate,
which becomes the new cell wall between the daughter cells.
• The vesicles also supply the lipids that form a plasma membrane on
each side of the cell plate, enclosing each daughter cell.
Chromosomes Divide during Mitosis
S
Chromosomes Divide during Mitosis
Mitosis (video)