Question

List the main differences between mitosis and meiosis.

Answer 1

Hint: The cells are divided and reproduction happens in two ways.They are mitosis and meiosis.In mitosis the parent cell DNA replicates into two daughter cells.In meiosis the parent cell DNA replicates into two daughter cells which in turn replicate into two daughter cells each.

Complete Answer:

	MEIOSIS	MITOSIS
Where does it occur?	In humans animals and plants	In all organisms
Gene Type	Different	Similar or Identical
Chromosomes	Mixing of chromosomes occurs here.	No mixing or crossing occurs here
Homologal Pairing	yes	no
Number of Division	2	1
Number of chromosomes	Reduced by half	Remains the same
Number of daughter cells	4 haploid cells(single copy of chromosome)	2 diploid cells(copy of two chromosome)
Discovered by	Oscar Hertwig	Walther Flemming
Steps	Meiosis1: prophase1, metaphase1, anaphase1, telophase 1Meiosis2: prophase2, metaphase2, anaphase2, telophase2	prophase, metaphase, anaphase, telophase.
Types of cells involved	Sex cells or gametes	Somatic cells
Reproduction	Sexual reproduction	Asexual reproduction
Function	Genetic diversity happens through seual reproduction	Cellular reproduction and growth of the body occurs.

Note: Few similarities: Both meiosis and mitosis take place in the nucleus.They both are involved in cell division.The phases are same in both.
The steps of mitosis are controlled by gene numbers carefully and are more critical in nature.It leads to health issues like cancer when not regulated correctly.Whereas in mitosis the process ensures the presence of same number of chromosomes from both the parents.The number of chromosome is reduced to half in meiosis from 46 to 23 to form egg and sperm cells which in turn gets fertilized and the resulting embryo will have 23 chromosome from each.