Mitotic Division

Mitosis is critical to every living organism and defects often lead to cancer and developmental disorders. Using this imaging protocol and zebrafish as a model system, researchers can visualize mitosis in a live vertebrate organism and the multitude of defects that arise when mitotic processes are defective.

Cell division is fundamental to all living organisms and required for growth and development. As an essential means of reproduction for all living things, cell division allows organisms to transfer their genetic material to their offspring. For a unicellular organism, cellular division generates a completely new organism. For multicellular organisms, cellular division produces new cells for the general development of the organism, as well as produces healthy cells to replace damaged cells from...

Observing the Cell Cycle in a Root Tip ExpandHypotheses: The experimental hypothesis is that in root tips slices that have been treated with nocodazole, a chemical that interferes with microtubular polymerization, all of the cells will be arrested at the same stage of the cell cycle and that in untreated onion tip slices all of the different stages of the cell cycle will be visualized. The null hypothesis is that there will be no differences in mitosis between the two groups and that different...

Cell division is the process by which a parent cell divides and gives rise to two or more daughter cells. It is a means of reproduction for single-cell organisms. In multicellular organisms, cell division contributes to growth, development, repair, and the generation of reproductive cells (sperms and eggs). Cell division is a tightly regulated process, and aberrant cell division can cause diseases, notably cancer. JoVE's Introduction to Cell Division will cover a brief history of the landmark...

The mitotic spindle—or spindle apparatus—is a eukaryotic, cytoskeletal structure made up of long protein fibers called microtubules. Formed during cell division, the spindle separates sister chromatids and moves them to opposite ends of a parental cell, where the now individual chromosomes are distributed to two daughter cell nuclei. The bipolar configuration of the mitotic spindle facilitates chromosomal segregation, preparing the cell for division. One mechanism that ensures bipolar mitotic...