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In this section, we will review the events that constitute mitosis, or M phase.Recall that mitosis occurs in somatic cells as opposed to germ cells,which undergo meiosis. Mitosis followsG2, and is the time in which cellsseparate their duplicated contents and divide. Division of cells at the end ofmitosis yield identical diploid cells.Though cell division is the defining characteristic of mitosis, a number ofevents must take place during mitosis before the cell is ready to split. Wewill review the essential cellular events that take place during mitosis inorder to gain an understanding of how the cellcycle ultimately yields new cells.Mitosis involves a five step process, and then a final, culminating sixth step,called cytokinesis.
Mitosis and meiosis are nuclear division processes that occur during cell division. Mitosis involves the division of body cells, while meiosis involves the division of sex cells. The division of a cell occurs once in mitosis but twice in meiosis.
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The five steps of mitosis and cytokinesis are oftenconsidered to be two distinct sub-phases within the general cell-cycle phasewe've been calling mitosis, or M phase. For ease of reference, we will use theterm M phase through the rest of this SparkNote to refer to the combination ofthe five steps of mitosis and cytokinesis.The five steps of mitosis, called prophase, prometaphase, metaphase,anaphase, and telophase, constitute the period in which the cell makespreparations for cell division. The five phases are differentiated by specificevents of preparation for cell division. Cytokinesis refers to the actualcleavage event, splitting the cell in two.In this SparkNote on mitosis we will review the nearly universal cellularcharacteristics of the five stages of mitosis and of cytokinesis. Ourdiscussion will be guided by the order in which events take place.
We'll beginat the end of interphase inG2 and go through mitosis andcytokinesis, ending where the resulting cells re-enter interphase atG1.
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