What is the defining characteristic of mitosis?

The defining characteristic of mitosis is the formation of identical daughter nuclei. During mitosis, a single eukaryotic cell undergoes a series of precise stages that ensure the duplicated chromosomes are evenly divided into two daughter cells. Each daughter cell receives an exact copy of the parent cell’s genetic material, which means they have the same number of chromosomes and identical genetic information as the original cell. This process is crucial for growth, development, and repair in multicellular organisms, allowing for the maintenance of genetic consistency across cells.

In contrast, the other choices highlight processes or characteristics that do not accurately capture the essence of mitosis. For example, the reduction of chromosome number is a hallmark of meiosis, not mitosis, as meiosis involves halving the chromosome number for sexual reproduction. Cell growth and differentiation are broader biological processes that occur in various contexts, not specifically defining features of mitosis. Apoptosis refers to programmed cell death, which serves a different purpose in cellular regulation and is opposed to the goal of mitosis, which is cell division.