Mitosis is the process during which two complete, identical sets of chromosomes are produced from one original set. This allows a cell to divide during another process called cytokinesis, thus creating two completely identical daughter cells.

In order for an organism to grow and develop, the organism's cells must be able to duplicate themselves. Three very basic events must take place to achieve this duplication: the deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), which makes up the individual chromosomes within the cell's nucleus must be duplicated; the two sets of DNA must be packaged up into two separate nuclei; and the cell's cytoplasm must divide itself to create two separate cells, each complete with its own nucleus. The two new cells, products of the single original cell, are known as daughter cells.

During much of a cell's life, the DNA within the nucleus is not actually organized into the discrete units known...