Mitosis, Meiosis, and Gamete Formation Flashcards
What are the two major stages of the cell cycle? Which one does the cell spend most of its time in?
M phase (Mitosis and Cytokinesis) and Interphase The cell spends most of its time in interphase. If the cell stops growing, it goes into G0 - not in the cell cycle.
What are the three stages of interphase? What happens in each of them?
G1 - cell grows, organelles are copied
S - DNA is copied. S=synthesis -> building and doubling the DNA
G2 - more cell growth, check for DNA errors
What are the four stages of mitosis? Which is the longest?
Prophase - longest phase
Metaphase
Anaphase
Telophase
What happens during PROPHASE of mitosis?
- Chromatin condenses - “packing the boxes”
- Centrioles move to opposite sides of the cell and form spindle fibers
- Nuclear membrane breaks down
What do the spindle fibers do?
Pull apart the chromosomes
What happens in METAPHASE of mitosis?
- Chromosomes line up down the middle of the cell
2. Spindle fibers attach to centromeres (the belt holding the two sister chromatids together) of each chromosome
What happens during ANAPHASE of mitosis?
- Centromeres separate, separating the sister chromatids into individual chromosomes
- Chromosomes move to opposite sides of the cell
What happens during TELOPHASE of mitosis?
- Chromosomes become CHROMATIN (un-condense back into a hot mess)
- Nuclear membrane reforms around each of the two clusters of chromosomes/chromatin
- Spindle fibers break apart
What happens during CYTOKINESIS?
Division of the rest of the cell
- Mitosis leaves us with one cell that has two nuclei; now the cytoplasm needs to split
How do animal cells do cytokinesis?
Cell membrane pinches in the middle - cleavage
How do plant cells do cytokinesis?
A CELL PLATE forms between the two halves, forming a cell membrane and a cell wall
What is BINARY FISSION?
The way that prokaryotic cells divide
How do prokaryotic cells divide?
Their DNA is circular. It’s copied, and then the cell membrane pushes inward between the two DNA copies and pinches off into two individual cells
How is prokaryotic DNA different than eukaryotic DNA?
Prokaryotic DNA is circular, eukaryotic DNA is linear
How does a cell know when it’s time to divide?
CYCLINS - special proteins that are present in various amounts throughout the cell cycle. These proteins help signal when the cells should should proceed to the next stage.
What is cancer?
When cells lose the ability to control growth.
They form masses of cells called tumors.
What are the two major stages of Meiosis?
Meiosis I and Meiosis II
Right before Meiosis I, all the chromosomes…
…duplicate
What happens in PROPHASE I of meiosis?
- Nuclear membrane breaks down and spindle fibers start to form (like in prophase of mitosis)
- Instead of each replicated chromosome lining up individually, each replicated pair joins with it pair to form a group of four sister chromatids, aka a TETRAD. Pairing process is called SYNAPSIS
- When in tetrad formation, homologous chromosomes may twist around each other and exchange segments of chromosomes, called CROSSING OVER
What is SYNAPSIS?
When each replicated chromosome lines up with its homologous pair in Prophase I
What is a TETRAD?
A group of four sister chromatids
What is CROSSING OVER? When does it happen?
When segments of chromosomes are exchanged while in tetrad formation in Prophase I
What happens in METAPHASE I of meiosis?
- Chromosomes line up in the center of the cell in TETRAD FORMATION
- The spindle fibers attach to the tetrads at their centromeres
What happens in ANAPHASE I?
- The homologous pairs separate from each other and move to opposite sides of the cell - this is called DISJUNCTION
- The two cells that will result are HAPLOID, however, each chromosome is still double stranded
What happens in TELOPHASE I of meiosis?
Cell divides into two new haploid cells that still has double stranded chromosomes
Is there any chromosome duplication for Meiosis II?
Nope - just gonna separate the sister chromatids.
JUST LIKE MITOSIS!
What happens in PROPHASE II of meiosis?
- Each daughter cell forms spindle fibers
2. The chromosomes (still in their replicated, double stranded form) move to the middle of the cell
What happens in METAPHASE II of meiosis?
- In each of the new cells formed from Meiosis I, chromosomes line up in the center of the cell, one by one
- The spindle fibers attach to the centromeres