FREE ESSAY ON MITOSIS AND MEIOSIS

MITOSIS AND MEIOSIS

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.