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Name: Brittney B.
Status: Student
Age: 15
Location: N/A
Country: N/A
Date: March 2004
Question:
well, I am in biology and I can't reall figure out how long each phase lasts, prophase, metaphase, anaphase, and telophase?


Replies:
In any population of actively dividing cells, only some are in mitosis. The percentage of mitotic cells is the mitotic index. The duration of mitosis can be approximated by multiplying the mitotic index by the duration of the cell cycle. My experience (and its been a while) was that for mouse bone marrow it was normally about 1.5-2.5 hours... if I recall correctly. I believe there are lab experiments you can do on onion root tips in a high school on this.

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