Amitoses

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. An unconventional method of cell division that occurs without the formation of a mitotic spindle
2. A process where the nucleus divides without the usual chromosomal condensation associated with mitosis
3. A form of nuclear division that results in the unequal distribution of genetic material between daughter cells

Etymology: Amitoses is the plural of "amitosis," and the word is built from two pieces: the prefix a- ("not" or "without," from Greek) attached to "mitosis," the familiar term for the orderly cell division in which chromosomes are split evenly between two daughter cells. Amitosis is the name for the division that skips that careful choreography. Rather than chromosomes lining up and separating precisely, the nucleus simply pinches or constricts in two, so the genetic material can end up divided unevenly. The contrast with mitosis is the whole point of the coinage. Biologists needed a label for this alternative process, and attaching a- to the established term made the relationship clear at a glance: it is mitosis without its usual order. The plural simply follows the Greek-derived pattern of "mitosis" becoming "mitoses," with the same ending applied here.

Synonyms: cell division, direct division, binary fission, non-mitotic division