Mitosis And Meiosis Essay, Research Paper

Mitosis and Meiosis :

how they are similar and different

Mitosis and Meiosis are alike in many ways essentially they are both forms of cellular reproduction. Both go through similar cellular division stages. Interphase, Prophase, Metaphase, Anaphase, Telophase, and Cytokinesis all occur in both Mitosis and Meiosis. Within each stage there are many similarities as well. In Prophase the cell wall begins to disintegrate, the nucleus disappears, chromosomes condense, spindles begin to from, and the kinetochores of the chromosomes start to mature. In Metaphase the kinetochores attach the chromosomes to the spindles. In Anaphase the kinetochores separate the chromosomes to opposite poles. Telophase the chromosomes reach the poles of the cells, the kinetochores disappear, and the nuclear membrane reappears. In mitosis and meiosis cytokinesis occurs.

One of the stark contrasts of meiosis to mitosis is that in meiosis two stages of cellular division takes place. In the first stage chromosome replication occurs just like in mitosis but these chromosomes pair together and exchange genetic information, this process is called synapsis. The chromosomes then separate, but the replicated chromosomes do not split until the second stage of meiosis. Another difference is that reduction division takes place in meiosis, so as to ensure that the chromosome number remains stable. At the end of cellular division the chromosomes in meiosis are not identical, as they would be in mitosis.