Saylor.org's Cell Biology/The Cell Cycle

Both meiosis and mitosis represent one phase of the cell cycle, which is an ordered set of events that a cell undergoes in preparation for division. The cell cycle we talk about usually refers to the mitotic cell cycle, but there is also a meiotic cell cycle. The cell cycle consists of several distinct phases, such as doubling of the genome, growing in size, etc. In addition, the cell cycle has many “restriction points” that act like roadblocks, preventing the cell from dividing before it is ready to do so. These restriction points ensure the integrity of the cell. Any mutation which results in cell division without the control of the checkpoints will likely result in cancer.