anaphase

Term: anaphase

Literally meaning: “toward appearance”

Origin: Anc Greek

ανά-/ana-(=prefix denoting up to, toward, against) >ανά/ana(=up, on, upon before, first)

φάσις/phasis(=stage) > φάσκω/phasko(=imperfect tense of verb “φημί”/phemi(=appear, show, manifest, aver)

Coined/History

In 1884 the famous German botanist, Eduard Strasburger (1844- 1912) coined the terms prophase, metaphase, and anaphase for the different stages of cell division. He used the term metaphase in order to define the stage of nulear division after the chromosomes have divided into chromatids although about 1905 he realized that the chromosomes are already double when nuclear division begins.

Definition

Anaphase is the third stage of mitosis and meiosis (following metaphase and preceding telophase) of eucaryotic cells in which chromosomes separate in an eukaryotic cell moving to opposite ends of the nuclear.