KEY TERMS TO KNOW:

• CHROMOSOMES
• NUCLEI
• MICROTUBULES
• CENTRIOLES
• NUCLEOLUS
• MITOTIC SPINDLE
• CENTROMERES 
• FIBER RING ACTIN

Mitosis is when a eukaryote cell separtes the chromosomes into two identical daughter nuclei.  Mitosis is a very intricate process. With the slightest error, the development of the cell can be altered.  Mitosis is divided into different phases.  These stages are prophase, prometaphase, metaphase, anaphase, and telophase. 

STAGES OF MITOSIS

Condensing, the chromatin can be seen under a light microscope.  Centrioles start to travel to the polar ends of the cell, fibers extend from the centromeres across the cell to form the mitotic spindle, and the nucleolus disappears.

At prometaphase, the nuclear membrane dissolves, proteins stick to the centromeres, microtubules attach at the kinetochores, and the chromosomes begin moving. 

Metaphase

Chromosomes get positioned by the spindle fibers along the middle of the cell nucleus.  The metaphase plate is sometimes referred to this line. Being organized in this fashion, each new nucleus will receive exactly one copy of each chromosome in the next phase.

Anaphase

Moving to the polar ends of the cell, the paired chromosomes split at the kinetochores.  This results from a grouping of kinetochore movements along the spindle microtubules and through the actual physical encounter of polar microtubules.

Membranes start to appear around the daughter nuclei.  The chromosomes and spindle fibers scatter and are no longer visible under a light microscope.

Pinching the center of the cell into two daughter cells, the fiber ring actin completely splits the cell.  In plant cells, the rigid wall requires that a cell plate be synthesized between the two daughter cells.