# Mitosis

## Overview

Mitosis is the process by which a eukaryotic cell separates the chromosomes in its cell nucleus into two identical sets, in two separate nuclei. It is generally followed immediately by cytokinesis, which divides the nuclei, cytoplasm, organelles and cell membrane into two cells containing roughly equal shares of these cellular components. Mitosis and cytokinesis together define the mitotic (M) phase of the cell cycle—the division of the mother cell into two daughter cells, genetically identical to each other and to their parent cell. This accounts for approximately 10% of the cell cycle.

Mitosis occurs only in eukaryotic cells and the process varies in different species. For example, animals undergo an “open” mitosis, where the nuclear envelope breaks down before the chromosomes separate, while fungi such as Aspergillus nidulans and Saccharomyces cerevisiae (yeast) undergo a “closed” mitosis, where chromosomes divide within an intact cell nucleus. Prokaryotic cells, which lack a nucleus, divide by a process called binary fission.

> The term "mitosis", coined by Walther Flemming in 1882, is derived from the Greek word μίτος (mitos, "warp thread").

## Phases of cell cycle and mitosis

- Interphase
- Preprophase
- Prophase
- Prometaphase
- Metaphase
- Anaphase
- Telophase
- Cytokinesis

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitosis