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.