Cell Division Flashcards
How many main phases are there in the cell cycle? What are they called?
Two, interphase and mitotic (division) phase.
What is interphase?
Long periods of growth and normal working separate divisions. Cells are not dividing continuously.
What does a cell do whilst it is in interphase?
Producing enzymes or hormones and actively preparing for cell division.
How does a cell actively prepare for cell division during interphase?
- DNA is replicated and checked for errors
- protein synthesis occurs in the cytoplasm
- mitochondria grow and divide, increasing in number in the cytoplasm
- chloroplasts grow and divide in plant and algal cells, increasing in number in the cytoplasm
- the normal metabolic processes of cells occur
What are the three stages of interphase?
Growth 1 (G1), Synthesis (S), Growth 2 (G2).
During the first stage of interphase, G1, what happens?
Proteins, from which organelles are synthesised, are produced and organelles replicate. The cell increses in size.
During the second stage of interphase, S, what happens?
DNA is replicated in the nucleus.
During the third stage of interphase, G2, what happens?
The cell continues to increase in size, energy stores are increased and the duplicated DNA is checked for errors.
What is the longest stage of the cell cycle?
Interphase
Is interphase a stage in cell division?
No. It is the stage between cell divisions.
How many stages does cell division involve?
Two, mitosis and cytokinesis.
What happens during mitotis?
The cells nucleus divides
What happens during cytokinesis?
The cytoplasm divides and two cells are produced.
What is G0?
The phase when the cell leaves the cycle, either temporarily or permanently.
Explain the two reasons why a cell may leave the cycle.
- Differentiation- A cell the becomes specialised to carry out a particular function is no longer able to divide. It will carry out this function indefinitely and not enter the cell cycle again.
- The DNA of a cell may be damaged, in which case it is no longer viable. A damaged cell can no longer divide and enters a period of permanent cell arrest.
What does the term senescent mean?
It is a term used to dscribe a cell once it has divided a limited number of times.
Research has shown that as you age the number of senescent cells in your body increases. This has been found to be linked to…
…many age related diseases, such as cancer and arthritis.
Is it possible for any cells, once they enter G0, to start dividing again?
A few types of cells can be stimulated to go back into the cell cycle and start dividing again, for example white blood cells in an immune response.
What are three things that must be ensured before the cell divides? Why?
- that it has grown to the right side
- that the replicated DNA is error free
- that the chromosomes are in their correct positions
This ensures the fidelity of cell division- that two identical daughter cells are created from the parent cell
What are checkpoints? What are their role?
Control mechanisms of the cell cycle.
They monitor and verify whether the processes at each phase of the cell cycle have been accurately completed before the cell is allowed to progress into the next phase.
Name the three main checkpoints of the cell cycle.
G1 checkpoint, G2 checkpoint and the spindle assembly checkpoint.
Where does the G1 checkpoint occur? What does it do? If it is sucessful, what happens?
It is located at the end of the G1 phase, before entry into S phase. It checks for:
- Cell size
- nutrients
- growth factors
- DNA damage
If it satisfies the requirements, DNA replication begins. If not, it enters a resting state.
Where does the G2 checkpoint occur? What does it do? If it is sucessful, what happens?
It is located at the end of G2 phase before the start of the mitotic phase.
It checks for:
- cell size
- DNA replication
- DNA damage
If the checkpoint is passed, the cell initiates the molecular processes that signal the beginning of mitosis.
Where does the spindle assembly checkpoint occur? What does it do? If it is sucessful, what happens?
It is located in the mitosis phase of the cell cycle.
It checks for:
- chromosome attachment to spindle
If it is not passed, mitosis cannot proceed.
Mitosis is the term usually used to describe the entire process of cell division in eukaryotic cells. Is this accurate?
No. It actually refers to nuclear division.
What does mitosis ensure?
Mitosis ensures that both daughter cells produced when a parent cell divides are genetically identical.
In mitosis, how does the genetic information in one of the daughter cells compare to the genetic information in the parent cell?
Each new cell will have an exact copy of the DNA present in the parent cell and the same number of chromosomes.
Name some processes in the body that rely on mitosis to produce identical daughter cells.
- growth
- replacement of tissues
- repair of tissues
True or false? Mitosis is necessary for asexual reproduction
True
What is asexual reproduction?
The production of genetically identical offspring from one parent in multicellular organisms including plants, fungi, eukaryotic single-celled organisms and some animals.
How to prokaryotic organisms, including bacteria, reproduce?
They do not have a nucleus and they reproduce asexually by a different process known as binary fission.
What needs to happen before mitosis can occur?
All of the DNA in the nucleus must be replicated during interphase. Each DNA molecule (chromosome) is converted into two identical DNA molecules, called chromatids.
Explain the purpose of the centromere.
The two chromatids are joined together at the centromere. It is necessary to keep the chromatids together during mitosis so that they can be precisely manoeuvred and segregated equally, one each into the two new daughter cells.
How and when is chromatin formed?
Chromatin is formed during interphase. It is formed when DNA combines with proteins called histones to form a dense complex called chromatin.
What are the four stages of mitosis?
Prophase
Metaphase
Anaphase
Telophase
How can you view and identify the stages of mitosis?
Using a light microscope
Describe how dividing cells can be viewed under the microscope.
- Growing root tips of plants
- Treat with a chemical to separate the cells
- Squash on a microscope slide to form a single layer of cells
- Add stain to allow chromosomes to be clearly seen
In mitosis, what happens during prophase?
- Chromatin fibres begin to coil and condense to form chromosomes
- The nucleolus disappears
- The nuclear membrane begins to break down
- Spindle fibres form
- Two centrioles migrate to opposite poles of the cell
- Spindle fibres attach to specific areas on the centromeres
In mitosis, what happens during metaphase?
The chromosomes are moved by the spinde fibres to form a plane in the centre of the cell, called the metaphase plate, and held in position.
In mitosis, what happens during anaphase?
- the centromeres holding together the pairs of chromatids divide
- The chromatids are separated, pulled to opposite poles of the cell by the shortening spindle fibres
Why, during anaphase of mitosis, do the chromatids form a characteristic ‘V’ shape?
The characteristic ‘V’ shape of the chromatids moving towards the poles is a result of them being dragged by their centomeres through the liquid cytosol.
In mitosis, what happens during telophase?
- The chromatids have reached the poles and are now called chromosomes
- The nuclear envelope reforms around the two new sets of chromosomes
- Chromosomes start to uncoil
- Nucleolus is formed
- Cytokinesis begins
What is cytokinesis?
The actual division of the cell into two separate cells
What happens to an animal cell during cytokinesis?
A cleavage furrow forms around the middle of the cell. The cell-surface membrane is pulled inwards by the cytoskeleton until it is close enough to fuse around the middle, forming two cells
What happens to a plant cell during cytokinesis?
Vesicles from the Golgi apparatus begin to assemble in the same place as where the metaphase plate was formed. The vesicles fuse with each other and the cell surface membrane, dividing the cell into two. New sections of cell wall then form along the new sections of membrane.
Why can’t a plant cell form a cleavage furrow during cytokinesis?
Because plant cells have cell walls
What would happen if the dividing cell wall were formed before the daughter cells separated during the cytokinesis of a plant cell?
The cells would undergo osmotic lysis from the surrounding water.
Normal cells are diploid. What does this mean?
They have two chromosomes of each type, one inherited from each parent.
Fill in the gaps. During mitosis, the _______ divides _______ following DNA _______. This results in _______ genetically identical _______ daughter cells.
During mitosis, the nucleus divides once following DNA replication. This results in two genetically identical diploid daughter cells.
Explain why gametes must only contain half of the standard number of chromosomes in a cell.
In sexual reproduction two gametes, one from each parent, fuse to produce a fertilised egg. The zygote is the origin of all the cells that the organism develops. Gametes must therefore only contain half of the standard (diploid) number of chromosomes in a cell or the chromosome number of an organism woud double with every round of reproduction.
What process forms gametes?
Meiosis
How many divisions are there in meiosis?
Two, to produce four daughter cells
Each gamete is haploid. What does this mean?
Each gamete contains half of the chromosome number of the parent cell.
What is meant by the term reduction division?
That every gamete contains half of the chromosome number of the parent cell.
How is each characteristic of an organism coded?
By two copies of each gene, one form each parent.
Explain what is meant by the term homologous chromosomes?
Matching sets of chromosomes in the nucleus. Each nucleus of the organism’s cells contains two full sets of genes, a pair of genes for each characteristic.
True or false? Each chromosome in a homologous pair has the same genes at the same loci.
True
Explain what is meant by the term allele.
An allele is a version of the same gene.
Why do some people have blue eyes whilst others have brown?
Genes for a particular characteristic may vary, leading to differences in the characteristic. The genes are the same in both the person with brown eyes and the person with blue as they both code for eye colour but the colour is different which means they have different alleles, versions of the same gene.