Mitosis Rap Lyrics
Interphase is cell division’s longest part,
Nuclear membrane’s intact as it starts,
The cell’s growing, cytoplasm flowing,
chromosomes get duplicated, DNA gets replicated
Chromosomes are spread out so they can’t be seen distinctly
But note the nucleolus, the ribosome factory
Outside the nucleus are two centrosomes,
They later make a spindle which will pull apart the chromosomes.
Prophase follows, the chromosomes condense,
Each is made of two sister chromatids, like an “X”
Each sister is a clone, the closest of kin,
And a centromere connects them like siamese twins,
The nucleolus disappears it melts away,
as the cell takes a ribosome production holiday,
the centrosomes separate, start spindle formation
for separating chromatids and cell elongation.
CHORUS
Mitosis, chromosomal ride
Inter-, pro-, meta-, ana-, telophase, divide
Eukaryotes go from one cell to two,
Mitosis, how cells renew.
In late prophase (prometaphase),
The nuclear membrane disintegrates,
The centrosomes migrate to the cell’s opposing sides,
And between them the fibers of the spindle wend and wind,
The spindle’s made of microtubule fibers which attach
to chromosomes at kinetochores, a protein patch
that serves like a handle that the fibers can grasp,
When they pull apart the chromosomes, splitting them in half,
The spindle moves the chromosomes with nudges so fine,
Into linear formation on the 50 yard line
A location equatorial defining metaphase,
where the chromosomes are lined up on that middle place
http://www.sciencemusicvideos.com/mitosis-cell-division-rap/
CHORUS
The spindle fibers pull on the kinetochores,
A cellular molecular mitotic tug of war,
The centromere snaps, sisters get separated,
Now these chromatids are chromosomes, they’ve been upgraded
This snapping separation defines anaphase
The “A” for “apartness”, for moving different ways,
Kinetochore spindle fibers separate the sisters
See ‘em waving goodbye, calling out “I’m gonna miss ya,”
And the other spindle fibers push and grapple like felons
Makes the cell elliptical like a watermelon,
In telophase membranes form ‘round the chromosomes
Which spread out as the nucleoli come on home
CHORUS
In animal cells there’s a ring of micofilaments
that form at the equator and they cinch themselves in
Tighter, tighter, tighter, tighter ‘til the cell is in two pieces,
Yeah in animals, that’s cytokinesis
But it’s different in plants in them the cell divides
By building a new cell wall from the inside
As the Golgi sends vesicles with cellulosic goo,
Which makes a plate, then a wall, divides the cell in two
And instead of one mother cell we now have daughters two
Identical twins, kind of old but kind of new,
From your single celled beginning this is how you grew
And for single celled eukaryotes it’s reproductive too!
CHORUS (repeat and fade)
Meiosis Lyrics
Meiosis, it’s how we make sex cells, or gametes
See the homologues aren’t identical twins– no way!
The sperm cells or egg cells performing the feat
They’re not the same DNA
Of moving genes forward in eukaryotes like orchids and bees.
The genes are the same but the alleles might take different forms,
Meiosis doesn’t happen in all cells of the body
So during synapsis alleles can cross over,
There’s just a few cells that have this hobby
Between homologues, and when it’s all over,
I’m talking ’bout germ cells in testes and ovaries,
There are gene combinations that have never been seen before.
Germ cells have two matching chromosome sets,
CHORUS
Means they’re “diploid,” and you can bet
One set’s from the father, the other from the mother
Another meiotic variety creator,
And when you line up the chromosomes it’s suddenly clear
Is metaphase one with homologues at the equator,
That each is a member of a matched up pair,
Cause how each pair lines up is random and independent,
Homologous pairs, each a homologue of the other.
So in one pair facing north might be the maternal,
In the next one it might be the paternal,
In humans,the diploid number’s forty six,
It’s a one in two shot, it’s called independent assortment.
And a key trick that happens in meiosis
is to cut that number in half to 23
So with two pairs you can make four unique gametes,
And that single set of chromosomes has its own name
It’s two to the number of pairs, pretty sweet
It’s called “haploid” in this meiotic game.
So think ’bout us humans with 23 homologous pairs
So diploid to haploid’s a key meiotic strategy. (
Two to the 23rd power is a number so great,
Is 8 million,three eighty eight thousand, six-oh-eight
CHORUS
That’s why metaphase one is a variety creating affair
Meiosis, makes eggs and sperm
It’s the same in the robin as it is in the worm.
BRIDGE
Makes haploid gametes with recombination,
And if meiosis had never evolved
Meiosis creates variation!
The book of life would be a different tome.
Cause if it wasn’t for meiosis
In interphase I meiosis starts,
All offspring would be clones!
It’s the DNA replication part
An evolutionary relic of its origin,
Metaphase one: homologues at the equator
‘Cause meiosis evolved from mitosis you see,
Anaphase one: they say “see you later”
So each process starts identically
It’s like Mom and Dad splitting up and setting up new homes.
Replicating chromosomes into two sister chromatids.
Two nuclei form in telophase one,
Then cytokinesis-meiosis one is done,
In Prophase I chromosomes coil up, and homologous pairs pair up,
We’ve got two haploid daughters, still with doubled chromosomes.
Forming tetrads, each with chromatids four.
A chiasma’s the spot where the chromatids link
Now things are simpler in part two of meiosis
And synapsis is the name for the whole darn thing,
Essentially it’s like just mitosis,
And crossing over is what this whole process is for.
You just need to pull those sister chromatids apart,
They line up in the center in metaphase two
Anaphase pulls them apart we’re almost through,
Now cytokinesis, we’ve gotten to the very last part.
http://www.sciencemusicvideos.com/meiosis/