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Usual process by which a cell (more strictly the nucleus of a cell) divides into two. Each chromosome duplicates before the beginning of mitosis, and mitosis involves separation of the resulting duplicates so that one goes into each ‘daughter’ nucleus [adapted from The Penguin Dictionary of Biology, 6th edition, Penguin Books Australia Ltd, Ringwood, Victoria, 1973]. At the third stage (of four stages) of mitosis, called metaphase, the chromosomes are easily distinguished with a microscope, and can be photographed to construct a karyotype. See also meiosis
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