Play, scrub and step through every stage of cell division — from interphase to cytokinesis — on a diagram that morphs live under your cursor. Click chromosomes, spindle fibers or the cleavage furrow to learn what each part does.
6 STAGES · 13 STRUCTURES · LIVE RENDEREvery chromosome, fiber and membrane below is drawn live and morphs in real time. Play it like a video, scrub it like a timeline, or click any structure to put it under the microscope.
The diagram is built to be handled, not just looked at. Every interaction works the same with a mouse, a trackpad, or a thumb.
Press play and watch the full division run end to end — about 25 seconds from one cell to two, with a natural pause at every stage.
Drag the timeline to move freely between stages. The cell morphs continuously under your finger — forwards or backwards.
Chromosomes (teal & amber mark the sister chromatids), kinetochores, spindle fibers, the furrow — tap any structure for its job and a quick fact.
Scroll, pinch or use the corner buttons to zoom; drag to pan. Toggle labels, and log all 13 structures to complete the index.
Six cheat-sheet cards for the structures examiners love to ask about. All of them are clickable in the diagram above.
Loose chromatin in interphase, condensed X-shapes by metaphase. Each X is two identical sister chromatids joined at the centromere — here drawn in teal and amber.
Kinetochore fibers pull chromosomes apart, polar fibers elongate the cell, astral fibers brace the spindle against the membrane and set the division axis.
The microtubule-organising centre. It duplicates in interphase, its two copies become the spindle poles, and each daughter cell inherits one.
A double membrane that shatters into vesicles so the spindle can reach the DNA — then those same vesicles reassemble as the two daughter envelopes.
The protein platform on each centromere. It only green-lights anaphase when every chromatid feels equal tension from both poles — the famous spindle checkpoint.
A contractile ring of the same proteins that power your muscles, tightening beneath the membrane until one cell is pinched into two.
Everything students ask about the diagram and the biology behind it — in plain language.
8 QUESTIONS · NO JARGON
The classic order is prophase → metaphase → anaphase → telophase — remember it as PMAT — with cytokinesis overlapping telophase to finish the split. Interphase comes before mitosis and is where the cell copies its DNA. The full sequence: I-PMAT-C.
No. Mitosis strictly means division of the nucleus — the PMAT stages. Interphase is the growth and copying phase where DNA replication happens; without it, mitosis would have nothing to divide. Cytokinesis, the division of the cytoplasm, is also technically a separate process.
In anaphase. Once every chromosome is properly attached to the spindle, the centromeres split and each sister chromatid is pulled toward the opposite pole. From that moment on, each former chromatid counts as a full chromosome in its own right.
They run three different jobs. Kinetochore fibers attach to chromosomes and shorten to pull the chromatids apart. Polar fibers from opposite poles overlap in the middle and slide against each other to elongate the cell. Astral fibers brace the spindle against the membrane and set the division axis.
This model shows 4 chromosomes, while a human cell has 46. Real interphase lasts hours and takes roughly 90% of the cell cycle, and the real stages blend into each other rather than following a clean timeline. The sequence and mechanics are faithful; the count and timescale are simplified for clarity.
Mitosis produces two genetically identical diploid cells for growth and repair. Meiosis produces four genetically different haploid gametes — it shuffles DNA through crossing over and divides twice instead of once.
A contractile ring of actin and myosin — the same protein duo that powers your muscles — tightening like a drawstring beneath the membrane until the cell pinches into two.
It is completely free with no account and no limits. The diagram runs entirely in your browser; the only thing saved is your structure-discovery progress, which lives locally on your own device and is never uploaded.