Mitosis and Miosis
Why do cells divide? There are many reasons for this. Cells absorb and release nutrients threw their membrane. The larger the cell, the harder it is to get rid of all the waste that is produced. So, if there are many small cells (more surface area) rather than one large cell, the waste can be disposed of more readily.
The other 3 reasons are critical to the survival of all organisms: Growth, repair and reproduction.
• Growth: This is a result of mitosis. The more cells in an organism, the larger that organism is.
Humans start off as one single cell, and by the time they are adults, they have over 10 trillion cells!!! This increase in the number of cells also allows for some of those cells to be specialized for various functions. This is important to the survival of many organisms.
• Repair: This is a result of mitosis. If tissue is damaged, repair is extremely important. With some organism, they are even able to regenerate lost limbs (such as arms or tails). For us, this is important because it can repair skin, blood vessels and bones, for example. This also replaces cells that have died. You have a “new” skin every 28 days! That means that the old cells died and the new ones took their place.
• Reproduction: This is a result of mitosis or meiosis, depending on the type of reproduction.
There are two types of reproduction. The first type is asexual reproduction, and this is when there is only one parent. This results from normal cell division. This occurs in bacteria, protests, fungi, some plants and some animals. The offspring are genetically identical to that of the parent. The other type of reproduction is sexual reproduction. This is when the offspring have a combination of both parents DNA.
Cell cycle
How do cells know when to divide? There are hormones in an organism’s body that sends signals to the cells to prepare for division when it is needed. This is all part of the cell cycle, which is made up of various phases, beginning at the
The other 3 reasons are critical to the survival of all organisms: Growth, repair and reproduction.
• Growth: This is a result of mitosis. The more cells in an organism, the larger that organism is.
Humans start off as one single cell, and by the time they are adults, they have over 10 trillion cells!!! This increase in the number of cells also allows for some of those cells to be specialized for various functions. This is important to the survival of many organisms.
• Repair: This is a result of mitosis. If tissue is damaged, repair is extremely important. With some organism, they are even able to regenerate lost limbs (such as arms or tails). For us, this is important because it can repair skin, blood vessels and bones, for example. This also replaces cells that have died. You have a “new” skin every 28 days! That means that the old cells died and the new ones took their place.
• Reproduction: This is a result of mitosis or meiosis, depending on the type of reproduction.
There are two types of reproduction. The first type is asexual reproduction, and this is when there is only one parent. This results from normal cell division. This occurs in bacteria, protests, fungi, some plants and some animals. The offspring are genetically identical to that of the parent. The other type of reproduction is sexual reproduction. This is when the offspring have a combination of both parents DNA.
Cell cycle
How do cells know when to divide? There are hormones in an organism’s body that sends signals to the cells to prepare for division when it is needed. This is all part of the cell cycle, which is made up of various phases, beginning at the