PROPHASE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does prophase mean? 

• PROPHASE (noun)
  The noun PROPHASE has 2 senses:

1. the first stage of meiosis

2. the first stage of mitosis

  Familiarity information: PROPHASE used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PROPHASE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The first stage of meiosis

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural processes

Hypernyms ("prophase" is a kind of...):

phase of cell division (a stage in meiosis or mitosis)

Meronyms (parts of "prophase"):

diakinesis (the final stage of the prophase of meiosis)

diplotene (the fourth stage of the prophase of meiosis)

leptotene (the first stage of the prophase of meiosis)

pachytene (the third stage of the prophase of meiosis)

synezesis; synizesis (the contraction of chromatin towards one side of the nucleus during the prophase of meiosis)

zygotene (the second stage of the prophase of meiosis)

Holonyms ("prophase" is a part of...):

meiosis; miosis; reduction division ((genetics) cell division that produces reproductive cells in sexually reproducing organisms; the nucleus divides into four nuclei each containing half the chromosome number (leading to gametes in animals and spores in plants))

Sense 2

Meaning:

The first stage of mitosis

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural processes

Hypernyms ("prophase" is a kind of...):

phase of cell division (a stage in meiosis or mitosis)

Holonyms ("prophase" is a part of...):

mitosis (cell division in which the nucleus divides into nuclei containing the same number of chromosomes)

 Context examples 

In vertebrates, immature oocytes are arrested at the PI (prophase of meiosis I).

(Oocyte Meiosis Pathway, NCI Thesaurus/KEGG)

The female gamete, germ cells in stages between the prophase of the first maturation division and the completion of the second maturation division.

(Oocyte, NCI Thesaurus)

Expressed most in prophase through metaphase, during maximal microtubule assembly from centrosomes, by human TUBG1 Gene (Tubulin Family), ubiquitous and highly conserved 451-aa 51-kDa Gamma Tubulin 1 is a component of microtubule organizing centers such as spindle poles or pericentriolar microtubule-nucleating material of centrosomes that interacts with GCP2 and GCP3 and may be involved in minus-end nucleation of microtubule assembly.

(Gamma Tubulin 1, NCI Thesaurus)

A cell division process consisting of a complex series of events or phases (prophase, prometaphase, metaphase, anaphase, telophase) by means of which two daughter nuclei normally receive identical complements of the chromosomes and DNA content characteristic of the original somatic cells of the species.

(Nuclear Division, NCI Thesaurus)