Mitosis

Mitosis is the type of division by which a single cell produces two daughter cells that are genetically identical both to each other and to the parent cell — it is an equational division, since the chromosome number stays exactly the same. It is completed in two linked steps: karyokinesis (division of the nucleus) and cytokinesis (division of the cytoplasm). Karyokinesis is conventionally broken down into four stages — prophase, metaphase, anaphase and telophase — purely to make it easier to describe and study. In reality, mitosis is one continuous, uninterrupted process: it begins with the disappearance of the nuclear membrane …