Question

Are the gametes produced by meiosis different?

Answer 1

Meiosis

1. It is a type of reductional cell division which produces daughter cells having half the genetic contents of their parent.
2. It occurs in two phases meiosis I and meiosis II and produces four haploids (n) daughter cells.
3. During the first phase of meiotic division exchange of genetic materials take place between chromosomes.
4. This type of cell division occurs during the formation of gametes.

Homologous chromosomes

1. Two sets of chromosomes that are identical to each other are called homologous chromosomes.
2. These are formed only during meiosis phase I.
3. For example, the homologous of chromosome 1 means there are two copies of chromosome 1 in the same cell.

Gametes

1. These haploid cells are involved in the reproduction and formation of zygotes after the fusion of their male and female counterparts.
2. The gametes produced by meiosis are non-identical to each other.
3. This is due to the fact that during meiosis I the homologous chromosomes undergo recombination or exchange of genetic materials.
4. This leads to the formation of genetically unique gametes.
5. The recombinant DNA content is distributed equally among the haploid daughter cells.
6. Similar cell division occurs in both males and females during gametogenesis.