Have you noticed how a cut on your finger is gradually repaired in a few days? This is enabled by a process called Mitosis. Mitosis is the process responsible for regeneration and repair. Mitosis helps in cell growth and development. Cells can grow old and wear off or they can get bruised and injured but eventually, they repair and regenerate.
Mitosis
Mitosis constitutes a comparatively small portion of a complete cell cycle but it is one of the imperative parts of the cell cycle. German Physician and cell biologist “Walther Flemming” coined the term “mitosis” in the year 1882. He explained the process of how cells split and separate their chromosome.
The process of cell division that results in the formation of two new daughter cells is termed as Mitosis. The newly formed daughter cells are genetically identical to the parent cell and to each other. It plays a crucial role in a living organism’s life cycle. However, the level of significance may vary depending on the type of organism (multicellular or single-celled).
In unicellular organisms such as bacteria, mitosis helps in asexual reproduction as it produces an identical copy of the parent cell. Another example of the Eukaryotic unicellular organism is “Amoeba.” An amoeba uses cell division for the production of new individuals. In the case of multicellular organisms, mitosis helps in growth and repair by producing more number of identical cells. For example plants, animals depend on cell division for their growth by addition of new cells. It is also used for repairing the injured tissues or replacing the worn-out tissue by regenerating new cells.
Mitosis refers to the splitting of chromosomes in the eukaryotic cells during the cell division process. The parent cell divides into two daughter cells that are identical to the parent cell during the process of cell division. During the mitosis process, the cell’s nucleus along with the chromosome is divided to form two new daughter cell nuclei. The daughter nuclei inherit the same number of chromosomes as that of the parent nucleus.