Which of the following is a reason why mitosis is a longer process in eukaryotes over prokaryotes?

Question

1.There are more organelles in prokaryotes, which speed up the process
2. Checkpoints are designed to detect if there is any damage to DNA
3. Multiple copies of DNA are replicated in eukaryotic cells in each pass.
4. Eukaryotic cells are protected by a cell wall that need to be broken down before mitosis can occur.

Answer 1

The correct reason why mitosis is a longer process in eukaryotes compared to prokaryotes is:

2. Checkpoints are designed to detect if there is any damage to DNA.

Eukaryotic cells have several checkpoints during the cell cycle that allow the cell to assess whether conditions are favorable for division and if the DNA is intact. This adds time to the process of mitosis.

The other options contain inaccuracies:

1. Prokaryotes do not have organelles like eukaryotes, and they generally reproduce through binary fission, which is a simpler and quicker process.
2. Eukaryotic cells do not typically have multiple copies of DNA replicated in each pass of mitosis; rather, they replicate their DNA once during the S phase before mitosis.
3. Not all eukaryotic cells have a cell wall (e.g., animal cells), and even for those that do (like plant cells), the presence of a cell wall does not significantly impact the duration of mitosis in the context of the question.