My Turn :)

Okay, it's my turn now! ;) 

Now that Noah has given us a great description of our experiments, I'll fill in everyone else on the process of Mitosis. 

As you can see in the diagram I put up, it shows the cycle of Mitosis beginning with the top circle and ending up back at the top with the same circle.

The purple circles are all cells, and if you can make out the white circles drawn inside them, that is the nucleus.  The green and red squiggles inside the white circle are the DNA strands.

Now, on with the show!

In the process of Mitosis, there are four stages.  If you've read this far and are wondering what Mitosis is, well, keep reading!  Basically, Mitosis is the a-sexual reproduction of eukaryotic cells.

The very first stage, which isn't listed in the four main stages of Mitosis, is the Interphase.  In this stage, the cell just does what it usually does and carries on an every day normal life, doing everything that it usually does.  This is illustrated in the very top circle.

The first official stage of Mitosis is the Prophase.  In this phase, the DNA (the green and red squiggles), and the centrioles (the small yellow cubes) all duplicate themselves.  The centrioles then begin to form the mitotic spindle which then attaches to the chromosomes (the red and green x-like structures that are now holding the DNA, illustrated in the 3rd circle).  Once the centrioles have completely attached themselves to the chromosomes, they begin to move outward.

Now we're getting to the second stage, the Metaphase.  In this phase, the centrioles begin to pull outward, making the mitotic spindle pull apart the chromosomes.  The cell then begins to stretch into a weird shape.

In the third stage, the Anaphase, the chromosomes split in the middle.  The chromosomes then begin to gravitate towards the centrioles.  This is illustrated in the 6th circle.  

In the fourth and final stage, the Telophase, the plasma membrane separates and the one cell pulls apart into two separate cells.  In each 'brand new' cell, there are chromosomes in each cell, and a centriole.  The chromosomes are then surrounded by a nuclear membrane forming the nuclei of the two cells.  This stage is illustrated in the 7th illustration.

So all summed up, a cells DNA copied itself, pushed the cells walls apart (with some help), split the cell apart, and created two new cells.  Reading this section in Biology really made me realize how amazing God is, and his creation...  :)

(This post was posted and written by Shasta A.K.A.  Gabe)