Question

Differentiate between the events of mitosis and meiosis.

Answer 1

Criteria	Mitosis	Meiosis
Definition	Type of cell division in which a cell divides to produce two daughter cells carrying an equal number of chromosomes as that of the parent cell.	Type of cell division in which a cell divides to produce four daughter cells carrying half of the total number of chromosomes as that of the parent cell.
Occurrence	Somatic cells.	Reproductive cells.
Phases	Single cycle of nuclear division followed by cytoplasmic division.	Two sequential cycles of division, meiosis I and meiosis II.
Stages in prophase	Prophase of mitosis is one discrete step without involving tetrad formation and crossing over.	Prophase I of meiosis is divided into five sub-steps which are leptotene, zygotene, pachytene, diplotene, and diakinesis.
Tetrad formation	Absent.	Present.
Separation of homologous chromosomes	Absent.	Present.
Crossing over	Absent.	Present.
Ploidy of daughter cells	Same as parent cell.	Half as that of parent cell.