The meiosis process occurs in two parts, each consisting of prophase, metaphase, anaphase, and telophase. Meiosis I is referred to as the “reduction division” because the homologous chromosomes, chromosomes that are identical, are separated into two different cells. These two new cells are referred to as haploid because they only contain one copy of each chromosome (1n). Meiosis I differs most from mitosis because more chromosomes are involved during this process. During Prophase I, everything that normally happens in Prophase still occurs, but in Meiosis, the homologous chromosomes must be paired up and then crossed over into one another. This allows for genetic information to be shared between chromosomes that way when the homologous chromosomes are split, some information from both will be included in the two haploid cells. During Metaphase I, the homologous chromosome pairs are lined up at the equator randomly and spindle fibers attach to the kinetochore of each chromosome. The actual splitting process is also a little different in Meiosis; once the spindles begin pulling the chromosomes in opposite directions, the chromosomes are still composed of two sister chromatids. Meiosis II is referred to as the “separation division” because the two new haploid cells must go through a process very similar to mitosis to become four haploid cells containing unique genetic …show more content…
This is what forms traits such as hair or eye color; genes from parents are mixed, and depending on the dominant/recessive alleles, the offspring could inherit one of the parents traits. Genetic diversity is caused by the crossing over of chromosomes during Prophase I, the random assignment of chromosomes at the equator during Metaphase II, and the random combination of gametes at fertilization. Say a red chromosome and a blue chromosome, homologous of course, are paired together during Prophase I, the chromosomes are crossed over, so now the blue chromosome contains a small amount of the red, and the red contains a small amount of the blue. This allows for genes to be mixed, which also leads to alleles being mixed from the two parent cells. Genetic diversity is caused by these variations that occur within meiosis simply because genetic material is mixed and passed on. The genes will contain alleles which are variations of a gene, and can be either dominant or recessive which allows for different traits to be passed on to the offspring. Because mitosis only splits one cell into two cells and no mixing of chromosomes occur, sexual reproduction could not occur by this process. Mitosis divides the cells that are produced after meiosis which is what helps to actually form the offspring, but it can only work with the genetic information that it is given. Meiosis mixes two sets of