Considering what you already know about mitosis in cells, what event must take place during interphase before a cell proceeds to division?

The correct answer is: DNA replication.

Cell division consists of three stages: interphase, M phase (mitosis or meiosis) and cytokinesis.

Interphase or the resting phase is the longest phase of cell division, characterized by cell preparation (metabolism of nutrients, growth, replication of DNA) for division. There are three stages of interphase:

•G1- cell grows and functions normally (protein synthesis increase, cytoplasm increases, cell doubles its size…)

•S phase-replication of DNA (number of chromosome is duplicated)

•G2-cell continues to grow.

genetic variation can be caused by mutation (which can create entirely new alleles in a population), random mating, random fertilization, and recombination between homologous chromosomes during meiosis (which reshuffles alleles within an organism's offspring).