Question

Assertion: During meiotic cell division, the chromosome content of the daughter cells is halved by the end of meiosis I itself. Yet, meiosis II is essential for generation of haploid cells.
Reason: During meiosis II, the duplicated sister chromatids separate from each other and are distributed into the haploid daughter cells.

• A. Both the assertion and reason are true and the reason is the correct explanation of the assertion
• B. Both the assertion and reason are true but the reason is not the correct explanation for the assertion
• C. The assertion is true but the reason is false
• D. The assertion is false but the reason is true

Answer 1

The correct option is A Both the assertion and reason are true and the reason is the correct explanation of the assertion

Meiosis proceeds via two cycles of cell division:
Meiosis I: At the end of meiosis I, the homologous chromosomes of the cell separate and divide into two daughter cells. Each of the two daughter cells receives only half the number of chromosomes and hence the chromosome content is reduced to half in the daughter cells. Hence, meiosis I is known as reduction division.

Meiosis II: The haploid cells undergo another round of cell division and here, the two duplicated sister chromatids of each chromosome get divided into two daughter cells. Hence, meiosis II is similar to mitosis and is known as equational division.

Thus, even though the diploid parent cell undergoes reduction division during meiosis I itself, meiosis II is important to separate the sister chromatids of each chromosome to generate four haploid daughter cells.
Therefore, the assertion and the reason are both true and the reason is the correct explanation of the assertion.