Question

A biologist examines a series of cells and counts 160 cells in interphase, 20 cells in prophase, 6 cells in prometaphase, 2 cells in metaphase, 7 cells in anaphase, and 5 cells in telophase. If the complete cell cycle requires 24 hours, what is the average duration (in hours) of the M phase in these cells?

Answer 1

Stage	Total number of cell counted	Proportion of cell at every stage (number of cells/ total number of cells)	Average duration (in hours ) = (multiply 24 hours by the proportion of cells at that stage)
Interphase	160	0.80	19.2
Prophase	20	0.10	2.4
Prometaphase	6	0.03	0.72
Metaphase	2	0.01	0.24
Anaphase	7	0.035	0.84
Telophase	5	0.025	0.6
Totals	200	1.0	24

The M- phase average duration is mainly assessed by summing up the total hours spent in every stage of mitotic division. In the above given cells, M phase is lasts for 4.8 hours. The metaphase is going to require 0.24 hours 14.4 minutes