Dear diary,
Time seems to pass by in a flurry of diffusion and CO2
release. All is quiet except for the distant rhythmic pulsing of the nearby
blood vessels and the occasional bustle of sporadic oxygen molecules. I wish I
could describe the amazing landscape that surrounds me, with the synergy of
cells working in unison to create…well, life. But unfortunately all I see is
pitch black. I can only distinguish my whereabouts by the different squidgy
sounds different organs make when I accidentally brush against them.
All my neighbouring cells seem to be interested in is
proliferating. You will find them sticking out their membranes with an air of
superiority, importantly announcing to whoever is in their vicinity that they
are about to enter the M-phase. The ‘M-phase’! They won’t even call it by its
full name (mitosis) because they say only newly-split cells call it that. For
those human readers that are not cells, mitosis is the step where cells finally
manage to divide themselves into two identical copies. I mean, talk about being
narcissistic! Luckily, mitosis is not as easy as it sounds…cells first have to go
through the G1-phase (they call it the ‘growth phase’, but really, they just
get fat), then the S-phase (there they get to copy all the crappy stuff that is
in their heart, or nucleus…like DNA), and then another growth phase called G2 (the
cell’s equivalent of putting on weight, then stuffing its face more because the
diet starts tomorrow). Only once they’ve done all that, do they get to enter
the M-phase. But don’t worry, none of them are actually splitting. Nutrients
and oxygen are too scarce lately, and most of us wouldn’t be able to reach G1
even if we wanted to!
Sometimes, you will find a cell sneakily pinching its
mid-riff and, with an irritating air of supremacy, whisper in a strained voice
that it is time, it’s undergoing cytokinesis. These types of statements are usually
acclaimed with a tense silence, bursting with a mixture of jealousy and
curiosity. Yet, when after several minutes the cell is still formed by one
intact globule, with no trace of a contractile ring, most cancer cells will
begin to call its bluff. The shamed cell will then have to admit to still
having a single nucleus, and resume its plump shape. Believe it or not,
cytokinesis is the step after mitosis (I know, life is complicated for us
cells)…just picture it as the phase where the cell is now as gigantic as a sumo
wrestler, complete with double everything (organelle wise). Now picture a
person coming along and placing a really skinny belt on the belly of this
gigantic sumo, and insisting on tightening the buckle until the sumo actually
splits into two. Well there you have it, cytokinesis.
As usual, nobody pays me much attention except for those rare
glances at my chromatin (I really need to comb that DNA of mine), just to make
sure I will not suddenly split myself into two and beat them all at it. Not
that I have any intention of doing so. I don’t really understand their
fascination for constantly bloating and splitting. Imagine your biggest aim in
life being to split into two? No thank you, I am perfectly comfortable sticking
to my Go-phase (the phase where you don’t bloat, and instead look toned and
gorgeous).
I wonder if one day I’ll become just as pointless as the rest
of them. They told me it’s the ‘cycle of life’. I guess only time will tell.
Cell X
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