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🔬 How do cells divide?

DNA is copied, spindles segregate chromatids, and cytokinesis finishes two living daughters.

3
lessons
~10 min
to learn
🔬 Science
subject
Adults
level
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What you’ll learn

  1. One cell becomes two — the big ideaExplain why cells copy DNA then divide nuclei and cytoplasm.Division powers growth and repair. DNA replication precedes mitosis; cytokinesis completes two cells.
  2. Mitosis stages and the spindleDescribe spindle-based segregation and compare division modes.Microtubule spindles separate chromatids through classic phases. Bacteria and meiosis use different programs.
  3. Meiosis — division for sex cellsConnect chromosome reduction, recombination, and nondisjunction risk.Meiosis halves genomes and shuffles alleles. Segregation errors can change chromosome number in offspring.

Questions this course answers

Put these events in a sensible order for ordinary mitotic division

Copy first, segregate sister chromatids, finish nuclei, then divide the cell body.

What is the mitotic spindle’s main job?

Microtubule spindles generate the forces and attachments that separate chromatids accurately.

Match each process to its role

Mitosis maintains; meiosis reduces and reshuffles; cytokinesis finishes the physical split.

Grounded in trusted sources

  • National Institutes of Health / NIGMS cell biology education on mitosis and the cell cycle
  • Nature Education / Scitable articles on mitosis, meiosis, and cytokinesis
  • Alberts et al., Molecular Biology of the Cell — standard textbook treatments (public educational summaries)
  • HHMI BioInteractive cell division teaching resources

Every Wunder lesson is built from real, reputable sources — never invented.

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