Various Phases that Make Up the Cell Cycle

The two main phases that occur during a cell cycle are interphase and mitosis. During most of a cell cycle, the cell spends a majority of its time in interphase resting in the cell cycle. Within interphase, the cell goes through 3 phases; 2 growth phases and DNA replication. During Interphase the cell goes through its first gap phase (G1). During G1 protein and RNA synthesis occurs so that the cell can grow and mature. (Cooper, Geoffrey M) G1 is very important because it controls the rate at which the cell grows and develops. The phase following G1 is the Synthesis phase (S1). The main component of S1 is DNA synthesis. DNA replicates during this phase so that there will be an excess of chromosomes in the cell. This part of interphase is very important because if the DNA does not replicate as it should, it may result in DNA mutations within the cell. During the last stage of interphase it goes through another gap stage known as Gap 2 (G2). In G2 the cell will grow further and mature. This is a final chance for the DNA to be checked and protein to be synthesized. (Cooper, Geoffrey M). G2 is the final stage prior to the start of Mitosis. Once the three stages of interphase have been complete, mitosis begins. Mitosis is divided into prophase, prometaphase and metaphase, anaphase, and telophase with cytokinesis. During these stages the cell goes through a series of division so that at the end of mitosis the original cell has now been divided into two daughter cells. (Cooper, Geoffrey M) In prophase spindles begin to form inside the cell and centrioles begin to move to opposite sides of the cell. The centrosomes duplicate in the cell and microtubules go through polymerase. In prometaphase microtubules branch out from the centroso...

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