Mitosis Lab Report

Introduction

Mitosis can be defined as a process of nuclear division among eukaryotic cells for which a couple of identical daughter cells are produced when the main parent cell divides. The focus point of mitosis is specifically the equal replication of genetic material within the nucleus that occurs through the function of this elaborate process is to keep a constant number of chromosomes in all somatic cells of the body. Mitosis is part of a bigger phase process known as the cell cycle, which is separated into two parts, mitosis and interphase. Interphase is characterised by the term ‘cell growth’ and holds the significantly largest portion of the cell cycle timeline. Mitosis is further segregated into four main stages known as prophase,

Animal cell have centrioles present, which help in pulling the chromosomes to the opposite poles, while plant cell do not have centrioles present. In animal cell, a number of hormones induce cell division, while in plant cell, cell division is induced by a specific plant hormone called cytokine. Centrosome is essential for mitosis in animal cells but not for plant cells. Prior to cell division, animal cell will become rounded shape but plant cell do not change

The collective results obtained showed that the duration of interphase approximately covers 80% of the total cell cycle. This is in contrast with the theoretical percentage of the duration of interphase which is supposed to be 90% of the total cell cycle.

This can be accounted to a collective human error, where certain groups made a mistake in calculating the number of cells in each respective phase. The reason for this is because the cells under the microscope is hard to be distinguished, with prophase easily confused with interphase, thus causing discrepancy in calculation of the number of cells in each respective phase.

As a result there is a low percentage in duration of interphase where it should be higher. Supporting this explanation is the observation of certain groups which conclusively showing through their observations durations of interphases which are approximately 90% of the total cell