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Lesson 7 Mitosis

Suppose that you accidentally scraped your knee during biking, or

cut your finger while cooking. At first, the wound will bleed, but soon,
the blood will clot due to the tissue factors of platelets (if you remember
platelets from lesson 4) and will ultimately form a scab to protect the
wound. Underneath the dried scab, white blood cells and other cells of
the immune system clears away the trapped dirt and dead cells. At the
same time, undamaged skin cells bordering the wound begin to divide
repeatedly, producing fresh, new skin cells that will eventually fill up the
damaged area until it heals over time.
Cells normally die, this is the reason why our hair and nails grow
longer. This is also the reason why we shed our skin cells. But if these
cells continuously die, how come that we are still alive and healthy
despite the loss of cells?
The ability of organisms to produce more of their own kind is one of
the many characteristics that best distinguishes living things from
nonliving things. This unique capacity to procreate, like all biological
functions, has a cellular basis. A basis that can be found in the third
postulate of the cell theory. If you will remember our discussion, in 1855,
Rudolf Virchow stated that “Where a cell exists, there must have been a
preexisting cell, just as the animal arise only from animal and the plant
only from plant.” He summarized this concept with the famous Latin
axiom “Omnis cellula e cellula”, meaning “Every cell from cell”. A concept
which was said to be originally postulated by Robert Remak.
The continuity of life is based on the reproduction of cells, or cell
division. Thanks to cell division, we have a continuous supply of
replacement cells everywhere in our body. Cell division plays several
important roles in life. When prokaryotic cell divides, it is actually
reproducing, since the process gives rise to a new organism (another cell).
The same is true of any unicellular eukaryote, such as the amoeba. As
for multicellular eukaryotes like humans, cell division enables each of
these organisms to develop from a single cell – the fertilized egg after
conception. Cell division continues to function in renewal and repair in
fully grown multicellular eukaryotes, replacing cells that die from normal
wear and tear or accidents. For example, dividing cells in your bone
marrow continuously make new blood cells.
In this topic, we will discuss the series of steps that can be found in
the cycle of mitosis, which is a kind of cell division that can be observed
 in somatic (body) cells. We will try to explain what happens in each stages
of the cell cycle as well as what happens to the DNA as the cell divides.

What is It?
The mitotic phase, also known as the M phase of cell division, is a
multistep process during which the duplicated chromosomes are aligned,
separated, and move into two new, identical daughter cells. The first
portion of the mitotic phase is called karyokinesis, or nuclear division.
The second portion of the mitotic phase, called the cytokinesis, is the
physical separation of the cytoplasmic components into the two daughter
cells. As mentioned from the last lesson, mitosis is divided into a series
of phases – prophase (which is usually divided
into early prophase and prometaphase,
metaphase, anaphase, and telophase – which
later on results in the division of the cell.
Each chromosome is made of two
genetically identical chromatids, joined by a
centromere. During DNA replication (a topic
that will be discussed in the near future), the
genetic material is loosely packed as
chromatin. For mitosis however, the DNA
needs to be more tightly packed to allow for
easier separation in anaphase.
Prophase
During prophase, the “first phase”, chromatin begins to condense
into chromosomes. The nuclear envelope starts to dissociate into small
vesicles, and the membranous organelles like the Golgi complex and
endoplasmic reticulum fragments and disperse toward the periphery of
the cell. The nucleolus disappears (disperses). The centrosomes begin to
move to opposite poles of the cell. Microtubules that will form the mitotic
spindle extend between
the centrosomes,
pushing them farther
apart as the microtubule
fibers lengthen. The
sister chromatids begin
to coil more tightly with
the aid of condensin
proteins and become
visible under a light
microscope.
Prometaphase
During prometaphase, the “first change phase”, many processes
that were begun in prophase continue to advance. The remnants of the
nuclear envelope fragments. The mitotic spindle continues to develop as
more microtubules assemble and stretch across the length of the former
nuclear area. Chromosomes become more condensed and discrete. Each
sister chromatid develops a protein structure called a kinetochore in the
centromeric region. The proteins of the kinetochore attract and bind
mitotic spindle microtubules. As the spindle microtubule extend from the
centrosome, some of these microtubules will come into contact with and
firmly bind to the kinetochores. Once a mitotic fiber attaches to a
chromosome, the chromosome will be oriented until the kinetochores of
sister chromatids face the opposite poles. Eventually, all the sister
chromatids will be attached via their kinetochores to microtubules from
opposing poles. Spindle microtubules that do not engage the
chromosomes are called polar microtubules. These microtubules
overlap each other
midway between the two
poles and contribute to
cell elongation. Astral
microtubules are
located near the poles
which aid in spindle
orientation and are
required for the
regulation of mitosis.
Metaphase
During metaphase, the “change phase”, all the chromosomes are
aligned in an imaginary plane called the metaphase plate, or the
equatorial plane, midway between the two poles of the cell. The sister
chromatids are still slightly attached to each other by cohesion proteins.
At this time, the chromosomes are maximally condensed. At this stage,
the cell will check that all the chromosomes are aligned along the
metaphase plate with their
kinetochores correctly
attached. This helps to
ensure that sister
chromatids are split evenly
between the two daughter
cells. An error in alignment
or in a spindle attachment
will result in the cell
halting further progress
until the problem is fixed.
Anaphase
During anaphase, the “upward phase”, the cohesion proteins
degrade, and the sister chromatids separate at the centromere. Each
chromatid, now called a chromosome, is pulled rapidly toward the
centrosome to which its
microtubule is attached.
The cell becomes visibly
elongated (oval shape)
as the polar
microtubules slide
against each other at the
metaphase plate where
they overlap to prepare
the cell for division.
Telophase
During telophase, the “distance phase”, the chromosomes reach
the opposite poles and begin to decondense (unravel), relaxing into a
chromatin configuration. The mitotic spindles are depolymerized into
tubulin monomers that will be used to assemble cytoskeletal
components for each daughter cell. Nuclear envelopes form around the
chromosomes, and nucleosomes appear within the nuclear area.