Significance of Mitosis

1.      Reproduction ;  William Bateson 1906 wrote, Whenever  I observe a dividing  cell under  the  microscope , I feel  as if the original act of  creation is taking  place before  my eyes . And  he was  right, in unicellular organisms  like amoeba  mitosis  regularly occurs as  a means of asexual reproduction  . After  attaining  optimum  growth , the unicellular body  divides  by mitosis  into  genetically  similar  daughter  individuals, generation after  generation,

2.      Development Growth  and Genetic  Continuity :: I   metazoans mitosis  is somatic  or vegetative cell division , it is  by repeated mitotic  division of a single  cell the zygote, that  the multicellular body   gradually develops. In this  way  the  original diploid  karyotype  is maintained in all body (= somatic ) cells, The continuity  of the  same karytoype  is also maintained from one the  next generation through   cells  of the gonads ( testes and ovaries) , Thus  in metazoans mitosis  is a part  of the  processes  of embryonic development, growth, repair , regeneration, and  heredity, The  magnitude of mitosis  is revealing  when  we  consider that the bodv  of an adult  man has 10¹⁴ cells ,all derived from a single  zygotic  cell, Further ,in  most tissues, cells continue  growing and dividing  throughout the life of an individual to replace wornout and dead cells, For instance ,2.5 million   new red blood  corpuscles (RBCS) form in human body  every second to replace wornout   and dead corpuscles.

3.      Cell Metabolism:: Nuclear  material  controls the entire metabolism  of cells,  Maintenance  of an equilibrium  between  surface  area  and size  of the cell, and between  the size of  nucleus  and volume  of cytoplasm ( = karyoplasmic index)  is extremely  necessary  for proper metabolism , When  these equilibria  are disturbed    presumably due  to cytoplasmic growth  in  G₁ period   of interphase, mitosis  must  occur  to restore these  these , if  the cells has to survive.