Mitosis Discussion Questions (Ch. 12 and 18.

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1. What is the overall purpose of mitosis? The purpose of mitosis is to produce daughter cells that are identical to the parent cell. To do this, the cells must first duplicate all of their chromosomes. Then the chromosomes must be equally divided among the daughter cells such that each has the same complement (number and kinds) of chromosomes as the parent cell. 2. In what types of organism(s) does mitosis occur? What type of cell division occurs in bacteria? Mitosis occurs in all eukaryotic organisms, whereas bacteria undergo fission. 3. The fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, has a total of eight chromosomes (four pairs) in each of its somatic cells. Somatic cells are all cells of the body except those that will divide to for the gametes (ova or sperm). Review the events that occur in the various stages of mitosis. (Draw them)

4. How many cells are produced at the end of a single mitotic division? 2 5. How many different kinds of cells are produced at the end of a single mitotic division? Both cells are the same. 6. Six centromeres are observed in a prophase cell from another species of insect. a. How many pairs of chromosomes does this organism contain? 3 b. For each stage of mitosis, indicate the number of centromeres you would expect to find and the number of copies of chromosomes attached to each centromere. Stage of Mitosis Number of centromeres visible 6 12 Number of chromosome copies attached to each centromere 2 1

Prophase Anaphase

7. What is the role of a microtubule and the protein dynein in the cell cycle? They attach to the kinetochores and then pull back through the use of the dynein, allowing the anaphase to occur. 8. What is the role of actin and myosis in the cell cycle? They allow for cytokinesis to occur, by pinching the furrow. 9. How is the cell cycle linked to cell communication? What are some ligands that are at work here? They allow for the stages of the cell cycle to progress. The main ligand

is Cyclin. 10. Describe an experiment that might prove that there are signals in the cytoplasm that allow for the regulation of the cell cycle. Two cells at different stages were put next to each other and the one that was further behind self-adjusted to the later stage. 11. How is the cell cycle Controlled? What molecules affect the cell cycle? It is controlled by fluctuating levels of Cyclin. a. What forms do the checkpoints take? That is, how do they control whether or not cell division occurs? Through signal-transduction pathways. b. What is a tumor suppressor gene? What does it make?
In addition to genes whose products nommlly promote cell division, cells contain genes whose normal products inhibit cell division. Such genes are called tumor-suppressor genes because the proteins they encode help prevent llllcontrolled cell growth. Any mutation thatdecreases the normal activity ofa tumor-suppressor protein may contribute to the onset of cancer, in effect stimulating growth through the absence ofsuppression. The protein products of tumor-suppressor genes have various functions. Some tumor-suppressor proteins normally repair damaged DNA, a function that prevents the cell from accumulating cancer-causing mutations. Other tumor-suppressor proteins control the adhesion of cells to each other or to the extracellular matrix; proper cell anchorage is crucial in normal tissues-and often absent in cancers. Still other tumorsuppressor proteins are components of cell-signaling pathways that inhibit the cell cycle.

c. What is an oncogene? What does it make? It is a gene that causes cancer. d. How is density dependence and anchorage dependence related to b. and c.? These limit the cell cycle, but when there is cancer they are no longer as significant in limiting the cycle. e. Cancer results from uncontrolled cell division. Create a model that demonstrates this. Feel free to do research.