Describe what happens during each of the three phases that make up interphase in the cell cycle

G1 Phase

The G1 phase occurs right after cells have divided. During G1, a lot of protein synthesis happens in order to increase the amount of cytosol in the cell. Cytosol is the liquid inside the cell, but outside the organelles, that contains the cell's proteins. Proteins are the molecular machines that sustain the cell’s day-to-day activities. The increase in cell size happens not just because more proteins are being made, but also because the cell takes in more water. The protein concentration in a mammalian cell is estimated to be 100 milligrams per milliliter.

Synthesis Phase

During the synthesis phase, a cell copies its DNA. DNA replication is a massive effort that requires a lot of proteins. Since DNA does not exist by itself in a cell but is packaged by proteins, more packaging proteins must also be made during the S phase. Histones are proteins around which DNA wraps. The production of new histone proteins starts at the same time as DNA synthesis. Blocking DNA synthesis with a chemical drug also blocks histone synthesis, so the two processes are linked during the S phase.

G2 Phase

During the G2 phase, the cell prepares to enter mitosis. The DNA has already been duplicated during the S phase, so the G2 phase is when the organelles of the cell need to duplicate. Not only will the duplicated DNA be evenly divided during cell division, but so will the organelles. Some organelles, such as mitochondria and chloroplasts, are discrete units that do not bud off from larger organelles. Discrete organelles increase in number by undergoing their own division during G2.