Kaplan Nursing Entrance Exam Practice 2025 – Comprehensive Prep

During the stage of mitosis known as anaphase, the chromosomes move to opposite ends of the cell. This movement begins with the splitting of the sister chromatids at the centromere, allowing each chromatid to be pulled apart toward opposite poles of the cell by the spindle fibers attached to their kinetochores. As the chromatids are separated, they are referred to as individual chromosomes.

This process is critical for ensuring that each daughter cell receives an identical set of chromosomes during cell division. The precise orchestration of this movement is essential for maintaining genetic stability and preventing aneuploidy, which can lead to various diseases.

In other stages of mitosis, such as prophase, metaphase, and telophase, the chromosomes are not yet moving to opposite ends of the cell. Prophase involves the condensation of chromatin into visible chromosomes and the breakdown of the nuclear envelope. In metaphase, chromosomes align at the cell's equatorial plane, but they have not yet begun to separate. Finally, during telophase, the separated chromosomes reach the poles and begin to de-condense, followed by the reformation of the nuclear envelope, marking the conclusion of mitosis.