A line dropping from the pair indicates offspring

step 1: initiation

initiation is the beginning of transcription. it occurs when the enzyme rna polymerase binds to a region of a gene called the promoter. this signals the dna to unwind so the enzyme can ‘‘read’’ the bases in one of the dna strands. the enzyme is now ready to make a strand of mrna with a complementary sequence of bases.

step 2: elongation

elongation is the addition of nucleotides to the mrna strand. rna polymerase reads the unwound dna strand and builds the mrna molecule, using complementary base pairs. there is a brief time during this process when the newly formed rna is bound to the unwound dna. during this process, an adenine (a) in the dna binds to an uracil (u) in the rna.

step 3: termination

termination is the ending of transcription, and occurs when rna polymerase crosses a stop (termination) sequence in the gene. the mrna strand is complete, and it detaches from dna.

interphase

the period of cell growth when the cell synthesizes new molecules and organelles. the cell is not dividing and it constitutes the majority of the time spent in the cell cycle

prophase

changes occur in the nucleus and cytoplasm. the chromatin condenses to form structures (sister chromatids) visible with a light microscope and the mitotic spindle begins to form, but the nucleus is still in tact

prometaphase

the nuclear envelope fragments and the spindle microtubules attach to the kinetochores of the sister chromatids

metaphase

all the cell's duplicated chromosomes are lined up at an imaginary plane equidistant between the poles of the mitotic spindle

anaphase

begins when sister chromatids separate from each other and ending when a complete set of daughter chromosomes arrives at each of the two poles of the cell

telophase

the daughter nuclei form at the two poles of a cell

cytokinesis

the division of a cytoplasm to form two separate daughter cells. usually occurs during telophase during mitosis. this and mitosis make up to mitotic (m) phase of the cell cycle