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Have you ever looked down at your leg or your

arm to find some cut and you have no idea

where it came from or how you got it? So you

put a bandage on it and a few days later,

it’s gone. It’s all healed, and you don’t

even think anything of it of this amazing process

that causes this to happen. Or let’s say

you're looking at your nails and you notice

they're a lot longer than the last time you cut them.

Or let’s say you're looking in the mirror

and you notice that you are a lot bigger than

you were when you were five years old. What

do all of these things have in common?

One major thing they both have in common is

mitosis.

Mitosis is a type of cell division done by

most of your body cells and it’s really

important for your cells to divide. If they didn’t divide, you wouldn’t grow. I mean, how do

you grow if you can’t make more cells, right?

So one reason why you’re bigger than you were

when you were 5 is mitosis. Mitosis also is

great for repair of damage. If you have some

kind of accident like when we were talking

about that cut on your arm or leg, well you want

to make sure it can get repaired well so you have to make more cells to do that.

Mitosis is great for that. Now it’s really important

to understand what it is not---mitosis

is not a process that makes sperm or eggs

cells, because that's something different called meiosis,

which sounds like mitosis…unfortunately,

but it is a different process. Mitosis is

done to produce body cells.

Mitosis makes identical cells, that is

the goal, identical cells. So if you’re
trying to make more skin cells, to replace
worn out or damaged skin cells, you don’t want

to start suddenly making stomach cells there.

That would be ridiculous! You want to make

sure you have identical cells replacing what

was lost, so mitosis makes identical cells.

It’s a really important thing. Now, it’s

also important to understand that your cells

are not dividing all the time. If all they

did was divide, it would just be rapid crazy

growth. In fact, this is kind of what cancer

is. Cancer is uncontrolled cell growth. We

have a clip on the cell cycle and what the

cell is usually doing most of its daily life,

which is actually a phase called interphase

where it’s growing and replicating its dna

and carrying out its daily cell functions.

That’s where cells spends most of their time in respect to the whole cell cycle.

Mitosis is a very short amount of time

in respect to the whole cell cycle. But mitosis

is a critical process because this is where

it is going to divide and make more cells.

Before we get into the steps of division,

it’s really important to understand that

your cells have something inside them – an

organelle called the nucleus. And the nucleus

holds your DNA. DNA is really important because

it’s your genetic information. And if you’re

going to make more cells, you need to have

the same DNA in those new cells as you did

in your original cells. You want it to be

identical, no mistakes. Very important.

The problem is you’ve got a LOT of DNA.

And we’ve got to get that DNA into the new

cells using mitosis. So there has to be a

better way to organize that DNA. Well, what

actually happens is that DNA can be organized

into these condensed units called chromosomes.
Chromosomes are made of DNA and protein. You’ve
probably heard before that humans have 46

chromosomes. That means 46 chromosomes are

found in most human body cell nuclei. What

are nuclei? Well it’s the plural of nucleus.

You don’t say nucleuses; you say nuclei.

Well in the nuclei, there are 46 chromosomes. Organizing

DNA into condensed chromosomes makes

it a lot easier to move over when you’re

making new cells.

So if you have 46 chromosomes in a human body cell, you have to duplicate those chromosomes in
interphase

before mitosis starts. That basically means

you’re duplicating your DNA, since chromosomes

are made of DNA and protein. You have to do this before mitosis starts, because if you’re going

to make an identical cell that has 46 chromosomes just like the original, well it makes sense you

have to duplicate the genetic material before splitting. So if you look at our cell cycle video clip

we talk about interphase. That's a stage where most of the time, cells are spending their time.

They're actually duplicating their DNA

during that time. So ready for the tricky part?

Because we tend to count chromosomes by the

number of centromeres present, when the 46

chromosomes duplicate, we still say there

are 46 chromosomes as the sister chromatids

are still attached and we’re counting by

centromeres. So 46 chromosomes here, they

replicate in interphase, and you still have

46 chromosomes in this picture. But you went

from 46 to 92 chromatids. We have a video

explaining that in more depth and how that

factors in for mitosis.

Ok so now we can get right into mitosis. I like to tell students to remember PMAT. It’s

a little acronym that helps you remember.

The P is for prophase. The M is for metaphase.

The A is for anaphase. The T is for telophase.

So remember: PMAT. The stages in order.
The very first step is prophase. Prophase
because it’s the beginning step, the nucleus

is still there and it’s going to go away

later on but this is a stage

where it's actually still there. The chromosomes are visible; in fact, we say they’re condensing

which means they are thickening and visible.

The next stage is metaphase. M for metaphase,

but I also like to remember M for middle

because in this stage the chromosomes line

up in the middle of the cell. The nucleus

has been disassembled, it’s no longer there

so we’ve got the chromosomes in the middle

waiting there.

Next the A is for anaphase. In anaphase, I

like to think as the A for “away.”

The chromosomes move away, they are moving to opposite sides of the cell, so they

are moving towards the poles of the cells.

Now one thing to point

out, these chromosomes...they're not moving

by themselves, they actually have something

called spindles. These spindles are fibers

that help move the chromosomes to the ends.

Kind of helps them move along.

The last stage of mitosis---think T is for

telophase. In telophase, the chromosomes are

actually at the complete opposite ends and

new nuclei are forming on each side to make

these two new cells. The nuclei are starting to surround the chromosomes on both sides.

I like to think the T is for “two”

because you can really see in this step that

the end goal is going to be two cells and in the human body, they're each going to have 46
chromosomes. And, again, remember,

they are identical.

Cytokinesis is responsible for the final separation

into two cells by splitting the cytoplasm,

which completes after the PMAT mitosis stages.

So why did all of matter? Without understanding
cell division, we wouldn’t understand how

growth and repair happens---because they both

require more cells to be made. Understanding

mitosis is also very important for cancer research

too. Cancer itself is uncontrolled cell growth

- so in other words, uncontrolled mitosis.

Well, that’s it for the amoeba sisters and

we remind you to stay curious.