| A | B |
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| the repeating pattern of events in the lives of cells which includes three stages: interphase, mitosis, and cytokinesis | cell cycle |
| the stage in which a cell spends most of its time; during this stage the cell grows in size, the DNA replicates, and the cell prepares to again be divided into two | interphase |
| any cell that is ready to begin cell division and will soon result in two daughter cells | mother cell |
| the process of duplicating and separating a cell's chromosomes (occurs in the nucleus) | mitosis |
| the beginning stage of mitosis in which the chromosomes get shorter and thicker, the nuclear membrane disappears and fibers begin to form across the cytoplasm | prophase |
| special proteins located at the centromere where spindle fibers attach | kinetochore |
| all the microtubules generated by the centrsomes in the cell that will help the movement of chromosomes during mitosis; composed of two types of fibers: kinetochore and polar | mitotic spindle |
| microtubules that grow from the centrosomes and attach to the kinetochore of each centromere | kinetochore fibers |
| microtubules that grow from each of the two centrosomes out toward the middle of the cell and attach to each other | polar fibers |
| the stage of mitosis when the chromosomes line up in the center of the cell along the equatorial plane | metaphase |
| an imaginary line that bisects the spindle (is perpendicular to the fibers of the spindle) | equatorial plane |
| the stage of mitosis where the two identical chromatids of each chromosome separate (because enzymes break down the centromeres that held them together) and the kinetochore fibers begin pulling them to the opposite ends (poles) of the cell | anaphase |
| the stage of mitosis when the chromatids reach the two poles, a nuclear membrane forms around each set, and the spindle fibers disappear | telophase |
| third step in the cell cycle where the contents of the cytoplasm are divided into two | cytokinesis |
| during cytokinesis in plant cells this formation divides the cytoplasm into two new cells; it will later fill with cellulose and become a true cell wall | cell plate |
| two of these result from one mother cell going through mitosis and cytokinesis | daughter cell |
| a method of asexual reproduction in single celled organisms such as bacteria, whereby the cell simply goes through cell division (mitosis and cytokinesis) | binary fission |
| producing a new organism without the fusion of an egg and sperm (only one parent organism is needed to result in a new offspring) | asexual reproduction |
| a method of asexual reproduction conducted by mosses, ferns and fungus; special single cells with hard protective coverings are each able to grow into a new organism | spore formation |
