The Cell Cycle and Cell Division Flashcards
What is binary fission?
Cell division in prokaryotic cells
What are the three phases of eukaryotic cell division?
Interphase, mitosis and cytokinesis.
Can chromosomes be resolved by light structures?
no
How do chromosomes appear under a light microscope?
like diffuse structures: chromatin.
What are the 5 important features of chromosomes?
- Characteristic Shape
- Homologous pairs
- Fixed number between species.
- Homologous chromosomes may not carry the same alleles
- Chromosome are copied before mitosis so they appear to have doubled.
What is the centromere
The region in between the p and the q ends of the chromosome..
Always in the same position.
Whaat is a somatic cell?
Any cell in the body that isn’t a germ cell or an undifferentiated stem cell.
What is a homologous chromosome?
A pair of chromosome in a diploid cell that has the same size and shape. They also carry the same genes in the same order, but not necessarily the same alleles.
What is a diploid organism?
one that carries two copies of each chromosome
How many chromosomes in somatic cells of humans?
46 (22 autosomes diploid + XX or XY)
What does karyotype mean?
The number and shape of chromosomes in a somatic cells of a particular organism
What does locus mean?
The position a particular gene occupies on a specific chromosome
What is an allele?
One of two or more different forms of the same gene
What is a chromatid?
The chromosome after DNA replication and before mitosis, when the chromosomes are condensed
What are the stages of interphase?
G1, S and G2
What happens during G1?
Cytoplasm is active,
New organelles are formed so cytoplasm increases in size,
Cells are biochemically activated to grow
Pre-mRNA is synthesized
Pre-mRNA becomes mature-mRNA
What happens during S phase?
Semi-conservative replication occurs
New histones are synthesized and attached to new DNA
Each chromosome becomes two chromatids, attached via the centromere
Growth continues
What happens during G2?
More cell growth, preparation for mitosis
Replicated DNA is checked for errors and corrected.
If correction of DNA is not possible, the cell cycle can be halted here.
Cell growth continues by further synthesis of proteins and organelles
Stages of mitosis
Prometaphase
metaphase
anaphase
telophase
What happens during cytokinesis?
Division of cytoplasm
Two cells formed.
What happens in prophase?
Chromosomes increasingly shorten into a super-coiled structure. - become visible as long, thin threads.
Nucleolus disappears and the nuclear membrane breaks down.
Centrioles divide and move to opposite ends of the cell, radiating a network of microtubules which form the spindles.
Spindle fibers attach to the centromeres and begin to contract to move the chromosomes apart