How many cells does metaphase have?

1 Answer
Feb 12, 2018

One.

Explanation:

Metaphase is the third stage of mitosis, following prophase and preceding anaphase. By the end of prophase, the cell is done preparing to replicate itself. Spindle fibers that control where chromosomes move around have formed, the nuclear envelope has broken down, and DNA has been condensed into chromosomes. Metaphase continues this process of cell division:

What is Metaphase?
Microtubules (structures on the ends of spindle fibers) begin binding to the sister chromatids at their centromeres, on a protein called the kinetochore.https://www.khanacademy.org/science/biology/cellular-molecular-biology/mitosis/a/phases-of-mitosis
Once attached, the spindle fibers extend to the edges of the cell forming the orange aster structure in the diagram above. Once the spindle fibers finish attaching to the cell, the chromosomes are lined up in the middle of the cell, which looks something like this:https://www.khanacademy.org/science/biology/cellular-molecular-biology/mitosis/a/phases-of-mitosis.

In anaphase, telophase, and cytokinesis, the cell pulls the chromosomes apart and divides itself into 2 functional daughter cells. Altogether, mitosis looks like this:
https://www.britannica.com/science/mitosis
Notice how the cell doesn't actually split into two until telophase? Therefore, there is only one cell during metaphase.