Genetics Vocabulary

3. = A haploid reproductive cell, such as an egg or sperm, that is formed by meiosis or is the descendant of cells formed by meiosis. Gametes unite during sexual reproduction to produce a diploid zygote.
5. = The fourth stage of mitosis, in which the chromatids of each chromosome have separated and the daughter chromosomes are moving to the poles of the cell.
8. = The fifth and final stage of mitosis, in which daughter nuclei are forming and cytokinesis has typically begun.
9. = Maturation-promoting factor (or M-phase-promoting factor); a protein complex required for a cell to progress from late interphase to mitosis. The active form consists of cyclin and a protein kinase.
11. = The spread of cancer cells to locations distant from their original site.
12. = The third stage of mitosis, in which the spindle is complete and the chromosomes, attached to microtubules at their kinetochores, are all aligned at the metaphase plate.

1. = A structure of proteins attached to the centromere that links each sister chromatid to the mitotic spindle.
2. = The second stage of mitosis, in which the nuclear envelope fragments and the spindle microtubules attach to the kinetochores of the chromosomes.
4. = A cellular protein that occurs in a cyclically fluctuating concentration and that plays an important role in regulating the cell cycle.
6. = The first stage of mitosis, in which the chromatin condenses into discrete chromosomes visible with a light microscope, the mitotic spindle begins to form, and the nucleolus disappears but the nucleus remains intact.
7. = A process of nuclear division in eukaryotic cells conventionally divided into five stages: prophase, prometaphase, metaphase, anaphase, and telophase. Mitosis conserves chromosome number by allocating replicated chromosomes equally to each of the daughter nuclei.
10. = The genetic material of an organism or virus; the complete complement of an organism's or virus's genes along with its noncoding nucleic acid sequences.