Cell Division
I. What is the Cell Cycle?The cell cycle is a series of stages inside of a cell that leads to the cells duplication and helps the cell produce two daughter cells. The cell cycle can divide into three periods: interphase, the mitotic phase, and cytokinesis.
II. What is mitosis?
Mitosis is a division that produces two daughter cells that carry out the same number of chromosomes. Each of these chromosomes hold their own nucleus. Mitosis only occurs in eukaryotic cells and it varies in different species. Mitosis is divided into different stages: prophase, metaphase, anaphase, and telophase. After these stages comes cytokinesis. Cytokinesis sometimes occurs independently or in conjunction with mitosis. But, in the end they both produce single cells.
III. What is meiosis?Meiosis is a type if division that produces two daughter cells that have half the number of chromosomes as their parent cells. Meiosis is the process of sexual reproduction, the sexual cells produced by meiosis are called gametes. Gametes are the males sperm cells and female egg cells. Both the male and female sex cells (gametes) hold 23 chromosomes that combine to make 46 chromosomes. Those 23 chromosomes are put together to form human beings (babies). The meiotic division occurs in two stages, meiosis I and meiosis II. In meiosis I, there is a diploid cell that holds two copies of each type of chromosome from the mother and father also known as the homologous chromosomes. All the homologous chromosomes pair up and share genetic material or cross over. These pairs then separate and each haploid cell holds one chromosome.
IV. Mitosis v. MeiosisBoth mitosis and meiosis both have similarities and differences. But, mitosis is used for cellular reproduction and meiosis is used for sexual reproduction. Also, mitosis ends in two cells and meiosis ends in four. In the meiosis process, the homologous chromosomes are paired, while in the mitosis process they are not. But despite their many differences, meiosis and mitosis have some similarities. Cytokinesis occurs both in telophase and both of their process have the same stage steps, but meiosis has double the stages than mitosis.
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