Mitosis

Introduction

You can see that most people are BIGGER if they are older than you, that is because their CELLS have split into brand new cells. And those new cells will eventually split into newer cells and that causes the body to GROW. Mitosis is the cycle or order, of what the cell does in order to become two cells. Mitosis has 4 main stages. 1. Prophase. Prophase is where the chromosomes are BUNCHED up in the middle of the cell, but not in a line in the middle :). 2. Metaphase. Metaphase is where the chromosomes are LINED in the middle of the cell. 3. Anaphase. Anaphase is where the chromosomes split in half and are pulled by the spindle fibers to the side of the cell. 4. Telophase. Telophase is the last MAIN stage of mitosis and it is the stage where the cell splits completely into two CELLS! These next chapters will explain each stage in a bit more detail.

Chapter 1: Prophase

If you remember from the introduction chapter, prophase is the stage where the chromosomes are BUNCHED UP in the middle of the cell. It is also the stage where the nuclear envelope disappears. Prophase (I almost forgot) is also the very 1st stage of mitosis. This stage has a couple things that happen in it. I have already named two but another one is that the chromosomes become a visible pair of chromatids. Prophase is the first stage, which I know I said before but anyway, since it’s the first stage, it means that the chromosomes aren’t connected to the spindle fibers. Which start at the edge of the cell. The chromosomes connect to the spindle fibers in the next stage though. This is the stage where the nuclear membrane start to fade but isn’t completely gone yet.

Chapter 2: Metaphase

This chapter is about metaphase! Metaphase is the 2nd  stage of mitosis. Metaphase, if you remember from the introduction, is the stage in mitosis where the chromosomes LINE UP in the middle of the cell. Think about the M in metaphase and the M in middle. If you remember that, you should easily know what the chromosomes do in metaphase. Also is metaphase, the chromosomes are becoming attached to the spindle fibers in the cell. The spindle fibers will have a greater effect in a later stage/chapter. Now the chromosomes have not yet split, but I can’t spill too much before the next chapter. Anyway, metaphase isn’t the stage where the chromosomes split, that is anaphase, but the metaphase stage is still pretty cool. Metaphase is also the stage where the nuclear membrane disappears into the cell. 

Chapter 3: Anaphase

Anaphase is the 3rd stage of mitosis. By this stage, the nuclear membrane is completely gone, but it disappears in metaphase. It is the stage where the chromosomes split, and are pulled. The spindle fibers pull them to the edge of the cell. This is the stage right before the cell divides, and the spindle fibers have a big part in the cell division. The fibers pull each “half” chromosome to each of the sides of the cell. Now that stage is telophase which I will tell you about later (this will be a shorter chapter because not a whole lot of things happens in anaphase.)Anyway, important stuff still happens in anaphase, just not as much as the other stages. Anaphase, as I have said before, is the stage where the chromosomes split and are pulled by spindle fibers to each edge of the cell, to get ready for the cell division.

Chapter 4: Telophase

Telophase is the 4th main stage of mitosis. It also is where the chromosomes are split so they have to wait and make another half to the chromosomes. Telophase is one of the most important stages of mitosis because it is when the cell divides. It is how we grow! Also it is where a new (complete) nuclei is formed for the two new cells, which means the nuclear membrane, nucleolus, and everything in the nucleus is now back in the nucleus again!

Outroduction

Overall mitosis is easy to remember, and there is a way to remember the order as well. Just remember PMAT. P=Prophase, M=Metaphase, A=Anaphase, and T=Telophase.