Introduction
Mitosis is a necessary process that enables cells to divide into their identical daughter cells; they are crucial in ensuring the replacement of cells that are worn out. Mitosis undergoes five stages: the prophase, prometaphase, metaphase, anaphase, and telophase ( Li et al., 2016) . The beginning stage is prophase, where the chromosomes undergo condensation in preparation for the prometaphase ( Li et al., 2016) . The nuclear in the prometaphase experience some fragmentations that will end up dividing in their coming days. After the prometaphase, the cells move to metaphase, where centromeres align at the equator ( Guo et al., 2018) . The sudden separation of sister chromatids indicates the anaphase of mitosis. The two sister chromatids then move to the opposite sides to have the membrane reform into two daughter cells at the telophase.
The condensation phase is present in both plant and animal cells. The process of aligning at the equator is another similarity between plants and animals ( Guo et al., 2018) . Some of the differences between plant cells and animal cells include centrioles for the organization of spindles in animal cells, contractile ring in animals, and mitosis in the meristem tissues of plants.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
Hypothesis 1: If the whole process of mitosis takes 90 minutes to complete, then prophase would take 23 minutes; metaphase 18 minutes; anaphase 4 minutes 30 seconds; and telophase the same amount of time as anaphase.
Methods
To test hypothesis 1 above, we divide the number of cells in each phase with the total number of cells, and multiply the answers by 90 minutes. Fourteen cells represent the prophase as metaphase contains four cells. Both anaphase and telophase have one cell.
Results
The results of the study were as below:
| Table 1.0 |
Determining the Duration of Mitotic Phases |
|||
| Phase |
Cells Observed (tally marks) |
Total Cells Counted |
% of Total |
Length in Minutes |
| Prophase | 14 | 20 | 70 | 63 |
| Metaphase | 4 | 20 | 20 | 18 |
| Anaphase | 1 | 20 | 5 |
4
|
| Telophase | 1 | 20 | 5 |
4
|
| Total | 20 | 20 | 100 | 90 |
Figure 1 : Determining the Duration of Mitotic Phase
The above findings indicate that prophase takes the longest period of up to 70%. Telophase and anaphase take the lowest amount of time evident in the 5% representation. Presenting this data in histogram results in Figure 2 below:
Figure 2 : Duration of Each Phase of Mitosis
Meantime the phases spend
=
= 22.5
Standard Deviation
=
=
=
48.05
Discussion
The research confirms the hypothesis that prophase takes the longest period while anaphase and telophase take the lowest time. The differences between the two phases existed due to the number margin between them when it came to cells in the images.
References
Guo, H., Chen, G., Gao, M., Wang, R., Liu, Y., & Yu, F. (2018). Imaging of endogenous hydrogen peroxide during cell mitosis and mouse brain development with a near-infrared ratiometric fluorescent probe. Analytical Chemistry , 91 (1), 1203-1210.
Li, Z., Ji, X., Wang, D., Liu, J., & Zhang, X. (2016). Autophagic flux is highly active in early mitosis and differentially regulated throughout the cell cycle. Oncotarget , 7 (26), 39705.
