The Cell Mitotic Cycle

In no case is the process well understood whereby the growing cell “decides” to replicate its genome, segregate its chromosomes into two nuclei, and wall them off from each other by cell fission. Such a fundamental biological process presumably has some universal aspects. Its appeal as an object of investigation is further enchanced by the seductive belief that the mechanism of replication is constrained to some kind of simplicity these facts:1.The end state is close to the initial state (namely, a freshly divided cell); and2.The whole process repeats at fixed intervals of time, at least in certain kinds of cells in optimal growth conditions.