
Photomicrograph showing prophase	Photomicrograph showing metaphase
root tip of maize X400	root tip of maize x400

Information about mitosis:

1. Mitosis is the process of forming (generally) identical daughter cells by replicating and dividing the original chromosomes.

2. Mitosis can take place in every somatic dividing cells.

3. In the laboratory, different stages of mitosis can easily be observed in root tips.

4. Mitosis deals only with the segregation of the chromosomes into daughter cells. It is a kind of nuclear division. Mitosis will produce two daughter nuclei.

5. Replicated chromosomes consist of two molecules of DNA (along with their associated histone proteins) known as chromatids. The area where both chromatids are in contact with each other is known as the centromere.

6. In photographs above, in the nuclei, we cannot see the chromosomes. It is because chromosomes are condensed and appear as chromatin.

7. The phases of mitosis are sometimes difficult to separate. Remember that the process is a dynamic one, not the static process displayed of necessity in a textbook.

8. In the left photo, some chromosomes start to appear. It is the prophase. It is the first stage of mitosis. Chromatin condenses (remember that chromatin/DNA replicate during Interphase), the nuclear envelope dissolves, centrioles (if present) divide and the spindle forms.

9. In the right photo, a cell is carrying out metaphase which follows prophase. The chromosomes (which at this point consist of chromatids held together by a centromere) migrate to the equator of the spindle, where the spindles attach to the kinetochore fibers.