Question

The number of mitotic division that must occur in a cell of the root tip to form 256 cells is

• A. 256
• B. 128
• C. 7
• D. 8

Answer 1

Answer: (D)

Mitosis is a type of cell division where two identical daughter cells are formed. This cell division process occurs in certain steps. The chromosome number between parent cell and daughter cell remains the same. It is also called as equational division.
Each division of a single cell forms two new cell. Thus, if 'n' number of mitotic divisions are taking place then the total number of cells formed will be $2^n$
Root tip cells divide mitotically to give 256, thus, number of divisions required will be $2^n=256=2^8.n=8$ .
Number of division is equal to the number of generations.