Question

You are looking at tissue under a microscope. One cell shows half the amount of DNA of some of the other cells. This cell is most likely to be in which phase of the cell cycle?

Answer 1

This is a very good question because it is a scenario which is seen often in real research.

There are three components of interphase (which is when the cell is not dividing):

1. G1 phase, when it has just divided.
2. S phase, when it is replicating its DNA in preparation to divide
3. G2, when it has replicated its DNA but hasn't divided yet.

The question asks you which cell has roughly half the DNA of other cells, cells in G1 or G2