List the main stages of mitosis in order.

• A. Interphase, prophase, metaphase, anaphase, cytokinesis.
• B. Prophase, prometaphase, metaphase, anaphase, telophase (followed by cytokinesis).
• C. Prophase, metaphase, anaphase, telophase, cytokinesis.
• D. Prophase, metaphase, cytokinesis, anaphase, telophase.

Answer: (B)

Mitosis is the stage of the cell cycle where the nucleus divides in a precise sequence of phases. The best sequence lists prophase, prometaphase, metaphase, anaphase, telophase, followed by cytokinesis. This order captures the progression from chromatin condensing into visible chromosomes and the spindle forming in prophase, to the breakdown of the nuclear envelope and attachment of spindle fibers to kinetochores in prometaphase, to chromosomes lining up at the center in metaphase, to the pulling apart of sister chromatids in anaphase, and then the reformation of nuclei around the separated chromosomes in telophase. Cytokinesis then finishes by dividing the cytoplasm, yielding two separate daughter cells.

Including prom o metaphase is important because it describes the transitional step where chromosomes attach to the spindle and begin moving toward the center, a stage that often appears as its own distinct phase in many teaching sequences. Interphase is not part of mitosis; it’s the period before mitosis when the cell grows and DNA is replicated. Omitting prometaphase or misplacing cytokinesis would omit key events or place division of the cytoplasm at the wrong time, which makes the sequence less accurate.