• Question: The word "mitosis" refers to the process of?

    Asked by Andrea to Eoin, Ester, Ildiko, Natasha, Paul, Tom on 6 Nov 2017.
    • Photo: Eoin McKinney

      Eoin McKinney answered on 6 Nov 2017:

      mitosis is the process of cells dividing to give 2 new ‘daughter’ cells.

    • Photo: Natasha Myhill

      Natasha Myhill answered on 7 Nov 2017:

      Mitosis is what happens when a cell divides. It does this by first making another copy of its DNA, and then splitting in two, taking one lot of DNA with it. You can actually watch this happen with a special microscope – have a look at it here! You can see the DNA doubling and then lining up on the centre of the cell before pulling apart: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L61Gp_d7evo

    • Photo: Ildiko Somorjai

      Ildiko Somorjai answered on 11 Nov 2017:

      As Eoin and Natasha said, it´s when one cell divides into two and normally is for tissue growth. Mitosis refers to somatic cells (most cell in the body) and in principle the “daughter cells” are identical. For germ cells (sperm and egg) you have something called meiosis-which is a bit different.

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