Cell Division

LG4: Understand cells’ role in

living things and heredity.
A Question…..
What do you,
an ant,
and an oak tree
have in common
(talk to a partner)?
An Answer….
Yes, you are all living things…but more
importantly

You are all made of trillions of cells!

AND
you all started out as a single cell!
Cell Theory

In the 1830’s
Theodor Schwann
& Matthias
Schleiden
proposed “Cell
Theory”
Cell Theory states…

1. All living things are made of

cells.
2. Cells are the basic unit and
function of all living things.
3. Living cells only come from other
living cells.
 How do you become a
Cell multicellular organism if
Division…
Zygote you started out as just
ONE cell (talk to a
partner)?

 Through cell
division, a
single cell
becomes two
cells. Those two
cells divide into
four….
 Time for math…
how many cells
would you have
after 6
divisions?
How Many?

You would a lo t
t’ s
have 64 Tha cells!
of
cells!
Cell Division
 Cells multiply by dividing!
Answer (talk to your neighbor):
• How does your drawing show that
cell division can cause organisms to
grow larger in size?
• Is there a limit to how large a cell
can be? Why or why not?
THINK:
 How many cells are you composed of?
 When an organism grows bigger do you get
more cells or just bigger cells or both?
 When do your cells divide the fastest?
Slowest?
 Do cells ever stop dividing?
Why Would a Cell Divide?

As cells absorb nutrients and get larger, the volume of

the cell increases, and a cell can no longer absorb
nutrients and get rid of wastes fast enough.
So what’s a cell to do?
Solution: divide in 2!
THINK:
 How many cells are you composed of?
 When an organism grows bigger do you get
more cells or just bigger cells or both?
 When do your cells divide the fastest?
Slowest?
 Do cells ever stop dividing?
When Would a Cell Divide?
Growth
Repair or Replacement
Cancer

Different cells divide at different rates:

Most mammalian cells = 12-24 hours
Some bacterial cells = 20-30 minutes
 Getting Older…
All cells are only allowed to complete a certain
number of divisions
Then they die (programmed cell death)

How does cell division change over a lifetime?

Childhood = cell division > cell death
Adulthood = cell division = cell death
The Later Years = cell division < cell death
Consider….
What are the purposes
of cell division?

 Regrowth/growth
 Repair
 Reproduction

(Hint: This is important!)

Regrowth/Growth
How tall were you when you were 5?
How tall were you last year?
How tall are you now?

Do you think: Your cells got bigger?

or
Your cells divided to produce more cells?
(talk with a neighbor)
Regrowth
 While individuals grow in size,
a larger organism has MORE
CELLS than a smaller organism

 There are limits on how big a

cell can get. What do you think
is the main reason why cells
only get to be a certain size?
Regrowth
Cells continue to divide to help an organism or part of an
organism grow
As the cell grows, more processes are needed for it to function,
so its demand for instructions increases. However, the
amount DNA (instructions) remains constant. The instructions
will determine what type of cell it becomes.
Specialization
We know that cells divide in order to make
bigger organisms. However, if cell division
were the only process occurring in cells,
all multicellular organisms would end up
as spheres of identical cells.

During development, cells become

specialized to perform particular functions.
In Other Words….
Cells get instructions from DNA about
what type of cell it will become and
what will be its function!
Cell Types
Some cells might
become layered
Cheek Cells
skin cells, while
others might
become long, thin Nerve Cells
nerve cells.

Red Blood Cells Bone Cells

One purpose of cell division

Regrowth

Next reason…
Repair
Have you gotten a
paper cut recently?

Have you broken a

bone in your arm
or leg?
Repair
 The body repairs injuries like
these by means of cell
division. For example…….

When your skin is cut, skin cells

on either side of the cut make
new cells to heal the wound.
Repair
 As cells age and die, they need
to be replaced.
In the human body:
-There are about 200 different
types of cells (remember the
pictures?).
-Every minute or so, your skin
loses about 40,000 cells!
-In contrast, your brain cells live a
very long time!
One purpose of cell division

Regrowth

Next reason…
Reproduction
 In order for organisms to reproduce,
reproduction (sex cells – meiosis) must occur
 Reproductive cell division produces sex cells
with ½ the genetic information from each parent
(humans – 23 from mom / 23 from dad)
Summary…
 Cells are the main
components of all living
things

 The purpose for cell

division:
 Regrowth
 Repair
 Reproduction
Cell Cycle
 Mitosis in Words
Interphase
Cell grows, makes a copy of DNA.
(90% of cell’s life is spent here!)
Cytokinesis
Prophase
Cell membrane pinches in two; each Chromosomes and spindle
daughter cell has same number of fibers form; nuclear envelope
identical chromosomes. breaks down.
The Cell Cycle
Metaphase
Telophase
Chromosomes stretch out; Chromosomes line up
new nuclear envelope forms across the center and
around chromosomes. Anaphase attach to a spindle fiber.

Centromeres split;
chromatids separate and
move to opposite ends.
Length of the Cell Cycle
Mitosis
One More Look at Mitosis
Meiosis (“my-o-my! Sex Cells!)
 The process by which the number of
chromosomes is reduced by half to form sex
cells (sperm and egg)
 Chromosome pairs separate and are
distributed to two different cells.
 The resulting sex cells have only half as many
chromosomes as the other cells in the organism.
Meiosis
 Requires two
divisions of the
nucleus
 Meiosis I- (Just
like mitosis)
 Meiosis II- two
daughter cells go
through a second
division of the
nucleus. (during
this process,
there is no
chromosome
replication)
Meiosis II (after Meiosis I
which is Mitosis)
 
 The difference between
Mitosis and Meiosis
(W.U. - copy this slide into notes)
Mi”T”osis Meiosis
(“T” is for TWIN!) (“MY-OH-MY! SEX CELLS!)
•One division of the •Two divisions of the nucleus
nucleus = 2 cells (mitosis, THEN meosis = 4 sex cells
cells)
•Used for growth and repair
•Creates exact “T”win of •Used for sexual reproduction
cell (diploid cells)
•Creates cells with ½ genetic material
(haploid cells) – in humans, 23
chromosomes from each parent = new
human with 46
•Cancer is Uncontrolled
Mitosis:

Mitosis must be controlled,

otherwise growth will occur
without limit (cancer)

•Mutations in control
proteins can cause cancer
 Cancer Cells – What is it?
Cancer is a disease in which cells grow and divide
uncontrollably, damaging the parts of the body around
them. It is caused by a mutation that causes
uncontrolled mitosis.
Mutations
 A mutation (from Latin word that means change) is any
change in a gene or chromosome.

 Can cause a cell to produce an incorrect protein

during protein synthesis.
 As a result, the organism’s trait, or phenotype,
may be different from what it normally would have
been.
Results of Mutations
 If a mutation occurs in a SEX CELL, the
mutation can be passed on to an offspring
and affect the offspring’s phenotype.

 If a mutation occurs in a BODY CELL, the

mutation will not be passed on to the
organism’s offspring.
Effects of mutations
 Introduce change in an organism (genetic
variation)
 Can be harmful (reduces the organism’s chance for
survival and reproduction)
 Can be helpful (improve an organism’s chance of survival and
reproduction)
 Antibiotic resistance in bacteria
 Can be neither harmful nor helpful
Rate Yourself!
LG4: Understand cells’ role in living things
and heredity.

“Before this presentation, I was a _____ (scale rating 0-4)

because I knew __________ about cells.

now, I feel like I am a _____ because I
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learned
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