Answer:
One of the characteristics of living things is the ability to replicate and pass on genetic information to the next generation. Cell division in individual bacteria and archaea
usually occurs by binary fission. Mitochondria and chloroplasts also replicate by binary fission, which is evidence of the evolutionary relationship between these organelles and prokaryotes.
Cell division in eukaryotes is more complex. It requires the cell to manage a complicated process of duplicating the nucleus, other organelles, and multiple
chromosomes. This process, called the cell cycle, is divided into three parts: interphase, mitosis, and cytokinesis. Interphase is separated into three functionally
distinct stages. In the first growth phase, the cells grows and prepares to duplicate its DNA. In synthesis, the chromosomes are replicated. The cell prepares to divide. In mitosis, the duplicated chromosomes are separated into two nuclei. In most cases, mitosis is followed by cytokinesis, when the cytoplasm divides and organelles separate into daughter cells. This type of cell division is asexual and important for growth, renewal, and repair of
multicellular organisms.
Cell division is tightly controlled by complexes made of several specific proteins. These complexes contain enzymes called cyclin-dependent kinases (CDKs), which turn on
or off the various processes that take place in cell division. CDK partners with a family of proteins called cyclins. One such complex is mitosis-promoting factor (MPF),
sometimes called maturation-promoting factor, which contains cyclin A or B and cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK). CDK is activated when it is bound to
cyclin, interacting with various other proteins that, in this case, allow the cell to proceed from G2 into mitosis. The levels of cyclin change during the cell cycle. In
