basic x infinity for you intellectuals - (Oct/08/2005 )

Uhh. After going through this forum and seeing all the intellectual dicisscussion taking place in lingo which might aswell be greek to me, I feel ridiculous asking my questions, but I really can't find in depth answers anywhere else, so if you could please help me, i'd appreciate it.

Where on our bodies is cell division very rapid?

ok, from the "research" (googling) i've done I can see skin, hair, and gut cells divide rapidly. The reasoning behind why skin and hair cells divide rapidly is pretty common sense so I understand it. but I don't understand why gut cells divide rapidly? How long do these cells live before dying and being replaced by new cells? Thank you.

What would happen if during anaphase all the chromosomes moved to one side of the pole? I think only one daughter cell would be formed, am I correct in thinking this?

Here's a pretty good article on the rates of cell turnover in the gut. I believe the latest thinking as to why this occurs is that it acts as a mechanism whereby the gut can rid itself of invading organisms, particularly parasites (see here, for example).

This is likely an evolutionary protection mechanism, much like sickle cell anemia is thought to presist because it increases the odds of survival from malaria (not a precise analogy, because sickle cell arises as a result of a mutation, and is in itself a disease, but you get the idea...).

gut has lots of nutritious food .
Many anaerobes flourish in the gut.These anaerobes are oppurtunistic pathogens(ie they can become pathogenic if given a chance).So the body has to get rid of them.These anaerobes are present on the outer walls of the gut(they cant penetrate inside).
So an easy way of removing them is by removing the outer wall.
So the body constantly removes the outer layer and replaces it with a newer one.This process should happen at a rate equivalent to the replication rate of these anaerobes.So the gut cells divide rapidly.

hi
blood cells also divide often...

polyploidia is generally not allowed in human cells. At the mitotic phase, checkpoints related to correct segregation ensures that chromosomes are well placed. If not, death of the cell occurs.