Cell Cycle

Question 1

Gamete

Answer 1

a mature haploid male or female germ cell which is able to unite with another of the opposite sex in sexual reproduction to form a zygote.

Question 2

Binary fission

Answer 2

asexual reproduction by a separation of the body into two new bodies. In the process of binary fission, an organism duplicates its genetic material, or deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), and then divides into two parts (cytokinesis), with each new organism receiving one copy of DNA.

Question 3

Gene

Answer 3

a unit of heredity which is transferred from a parent to offspring and is held to determine some characteristic of the offspring.

Question 4

Chromosome

Answer 4

a threadlike structure of nucleic acids and protein found in the nucleus of most living cells, carrying genetic information in the form of genes.

Question 5

Chromatid

Answer 5

each of the two threadlike strands into which a chromosome divides longitudinally during cell division. Each contains a double helix of DNA.

Question 6

Centromere

Answer 6

the region of a chromosome to which the microtubules of the spindle attach, via the kinetochore, during cell division.

Question 7

Homologous Chromosome

Answer 7

two pieces of DNA within a diploid organism which carry the same genes, one from each parental source

Question 8

Diploid

Answer 8

a cell or organism that has paired chromosomes, one from each parent.

Question 9

Haploid

Answer 9

the quality of a cell or organism having a single set of chromosomes. Organisms that reproduce asexually.

Question 10

Zygote

Answer 10

fertilized egg cell that results from the union of a female gamete (egg, or ovum) with a male gamete (sperm)

Question 11

Karyotype

Answer 11

an individual’s collection of chromosomes. The term also refers to a laboratory technique that produces an image of an individual’s chromosomes

Question 12

Cell Cycle

Answer 12

a series of events that takes place in a cell as it grows and divides. A cell spends most of its time in what is called interphase, and during this time it grows, replicates its chromosomes, and prepares for cell division.

Question 13

Interphase

Answer 13

the resting phase between successive mitotic divisions of a cell, or between the first and second divisions of meiosis.

Question 14

Mitosis

Answer 14

a process where a single cell divides into two identical daughter cells (cell division).

Question 15

Cytokinesis

Answer 15

the physical process of cell division, which divides the cytoplasm of a parental cell into two daughter cells

Question 16

Cancer

Answer 16

An abnormal growth of cells which tend to proliferate in an uncontrolled way and, in some cases, to metastasize (spread).

Question 17

Meiosis

Answer 17

a type of cell division that reduces the number of chromosomes in the parent cell by half and produces four gamete cells