Hey, I got confused studying the process of mitosis form various sources. Do microtubules extending form centrosome attach to kinetochores in prometaphase or methaphase? Are they already attached by the end of promethapse or not really?
Hello,
Essentially, prometaphase is the slight phase between pro and meta phases. It’s sometimes referred to as late prophase or early metaphase. Some books list 5 stages (Pro, prometa, meta, ana, telo), and some books just like the four for simplicity (pro, meta, ana, telo).
To answer your question, essentially and to be exact and specific, the microtubules attach to kinetochores in prometaphase. Metaphase is essentially the phase where the chromosomes allign at the equator. However, as i mentioned earlier, some books or resources only list 4 phases, and in this case, the microtubules attaching would be associated with Meta since prometa is not mentioned there.
If in doubt in any exam and you are presented prometa and meta, I think it is wiser to choose prometa if you have it as a choice. If not and you only have meta as one of the choices, then you have no choice but to choose it since it is “highschool level” and highschool books, or at least for me in IB, they did not bring up anything related to prometa.
If this was helpful, consider ticking it as the solution! Good luck!!
2 Likes
Thanks a lot! :)) that makes sense!
1 Like