meiosis Questions

Question

Meiosis 

1. After the first Meiotic division, are the daughter cells haploid, diploid, or polyploid?
2. After the second Meiotic division, are the daughter cells haploid or diploid?
3. Which 2 processes in Meiosis are responsible for genetic variation amongst individuals?
4. In which phase of Meiosis do the chromosomes duplicate?

Answer 1

Hi Ahmad,

1. As you know meiosis, unlike mitosis occurs in two steps, meiosis I and meiosis II. During meiosis I, pairs of chromosomes are separated which produce two diploid daughter cells.
2. In meiosis II however, it is not pairs of chromosomes that are separated, but rather the sister chromatids. This produces a total of 4 haploid daughter cells.
3. The process of meiosis produces 4 haploid daughter cells each genetically different from each other and the parent cell. The reason for this is both crossing over and independent assortment. Crossing over occurs in prophase I, after synapsis. When homologous chromosomes pair up, genetic information can be exchanged or crossed over from one homolog to the other causing genetic variation. Independent assortment occurs during metaphase I, after crossing over occurs. During metaphase I, the homologous pairs align at the metaphase plate, however, the direction in which the maternal and paternal chromosomes face toward is random. Therefore, genetic diversity is affected.
4. In both mitosis and meiosis, the chromosomes are duplicated in interphase. More specifically in S phase, prior to M phase or cell division.

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