Stage #1 Prophase: Chromatin fibers become coiled into chromosomes, with each chromosome having two chromatids joined at a centromere.
The mitotic spindle, composed of microtubules and proteins, forms in the cytoplasm.
The two pairs of centrioles (formed from the replication of one pair in Interphase) move away from one another toward opposite ends of the cell due to the lengthening of the microtubules that form between them.
Polar fibers, which are microtubules that make up the spindle fibers, reach from each cell pole to the cell's equator.
Kinetochores, which are specialized regions in the centromeres of chromosomes, attach to a type of microtubule called kinetochore fibers.
The kinetochore fibers "interact" with the spindle polar fibers connecting the kinetochores to the polar fibers.
The chromosomes begin to migrate toward the cell center.
Stage #2 Metaphase: The nuclear membrane disappears completely.
Polar fibers (microtubules that make up the spindle fibers) continue to extend from the poles to the center of the cell.
Chromosomes move randomly until they attach (at their kinetochores) to polar fibers from both sides of their centromeres.
Chromosomes align at the metaphase plate at right angles to the spindle poles.
Chromosomes are held at the metaphase plate by the equal forces of the polar fibers pushing on the centromeres of the chromosomes.
Stage #3: Anaphase: The paired centromeres in each distinct chromosome begin to move apart.
Once the paired sister chromatids separate from one another, each is considered a "full" chromosome. They are referred to as daughter chromosomes.
Through the spindle apparatus, the daughter chromosomes move to the poles at opposite ends of the cell.
The daughter chromosomes migrate centromere first and the kinetochore fibers become shorter as the chromosomes near a pole.
In preparation for telophase, the two cell poles also move further apart during the course of anaphase. At the end of anaphase, each pole contains a complete compilation of chromosomes.
Stage #4 Telophase: The polar fibers continue to lengthen.
Nuclei begin to form at opposite poles.
The nuclear envelopes of these nuclei form from remnant pieces of the parent cell's nuclear envelope and from pieces of the endomembrane system.
Nucleoli also reappear.
Chromatin fibers of chromosomes uncoil.
After these changes, telophase/mitosis is largely complete. The genetic contents of one cell have been divided equally into two.
Stage #5 Cytokinesis: Cytokinesis is the division of the cell's cytoplasm. It begins prior to the end of mitosis in anaphase and completes shortly after telophase/mitosis. At the end of cytokinesis, two genetically identical daughter cells are produced. These are diploid cells, with each cell containing a full complement of chromosomes.
Cells produced through mitosis are different from those produced through meiosis. In meiosis, four daughter cells are produced. These cells are haploid cells, containing one-half the number of chromosomes as the original cell. Sex cells undergo meiosis. When sex cells unite during fertilization, these haploid cells become a diploid cell.
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