Question

What is crossing over in meiosis?

Answer 1

Crossing over:

1. Meiosis is a type of cell division wherein the resulting daughter cells have half the number of chromosomes present when compared to the parent cell.
2. Thus, it is also referred to as reductional division.
3. Crossing over is a process that takes place during prophase-I of meiosis-I, in which non-sister chromatids of homologous chromosomes exchange segments between themselves.
4. This exchange of segments is referred to as crossing over.
5. Enzyme recombinase mediates the crossing-over process and is present in the recombination nodule.
6. Crossing over is the most crucial process of living beings.
7. It increases the genetic variability in the population of living organisms from one generation to the next generation.