Essay On Mitosis And Meiosis

Discuss the processes of mitosis and meiosis that occur during the M phase of the cell cycle, including their similarities and differences.

The cell cycle is an undeniably fundamental part in the journey of a cell. Without it there would be no cell reproduction or growth. Through the process of mitosis and also meiosis which will be shortly discussed about, it will come to be known exactly just how important it actually is.

Mitosis is described as a type of cell division. Through mitosis new cells are made that are generally identical to each other and their parent cell from a single cell. The process of mitosis is divided into stages, these stages are: Interphase, prophase, metaphase, anaphase and telophase. (Yourgenome (2017)) A brief description

The cell gathers in the middle and forms two single daughter cells that contain a full set of chromosomes. The process is known as cytokinesis.

Meiosis is generally also described a division within a cell and is also sometimes called “Reduction Division”. Through Meiosis both the male and female gamete is produced. A gamete is a sexual reproductive cell which has matured whose nucleus is able to combine with another cell which in turn forms a new organism. (The American Heritage® Science Dictionary (2002)) Within a gamete only a haploid set of chromosomes resides. Within the body there are a total of 46 chromosomes which are organised in 23

The M phase is the part of the cell cycle where growth within the cell and the production of protein are stopped. (James A. Sullivan (2017)) It is also the phase in which the actual division of the cell happens. The reason for this is so that all of the energy within the cell is concentrated on the division of the cell to form two daughter cells. The main processes of division are mitosis and cytokinesis. As mitosis has already been previously explored, the next topic of discussion will be Cytokinesis.

During Cytokinesis, the cells cytoplasm is split into two, this in turn creates two new cells. When does Cytokinesis take place? Cytokinesis usually starts just as mitosis is finishing. One important thing to note is that cytokinesis happens differently in both animal and plant cells.

Within animal cells, when the contractile ring (cytoskeletal fibres), which is made up of Actin and Myosin Filaments, gets smaller onto itself and squeezes the cell into two. The reason why animal cells can be split into two is due to the fact that they’re soft cells. This process is called contractile