Comparing Mitosis and Meiosis: Processes and Biological Significance

This essay elucidates the distinctions between mitosis and meiosis, two fundamental processes of cell division. Mitosis involves the division of a parent cell into two identical daughter cells, occurring in haploid and diploid cells and resulting in somatic cells. In contrast, meiosis, also known as reduction division, produces four daughter cells with half the genetic information of the parent cell, exclusively taking place in polypoid or diploid cells and resulting in gametes. The essay highlights that mitosis involves a single nuclear division, while meiosis involves two. Mitosis leads to genetically identical daughter cells, whereas meiosis introduces genetic diversity. The importance of mitosis in growth, development, and cell replacement, and the role of meiosis in sexual reproduction, are also emphasized. Desklib provides access to similar solved assignments and resources for students.

THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN MITOSIS AND MEIOSIS 1
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MITOSIS AND MEIOSIS
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THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN MITOSIS AND MEIOSIS 2
In a cell life cycle, cell division is among the few processes which play important roles.
This is in consideration of the fact that cell division facilitates both growth and reproduction in
all living organisms. For that matter, without cell division organisms would not be growing and
reproducing (Chaurasia and Lehner, 2018, p.14). Cell division process is accomplished in two
major steps and which are cytokinesis and nuclear division. Nuclear division on its own entails
two processes as well and which are meiosis and mitosis. Although the two processes are similar
in such a way that they are accomplished through the separation of the already existing cells into
new ones, they are quite different in how they proceed as well as their final products. Mainly,
their differences are based on the class of cells created in each process. For instance, during the
mitosis process, parent cells split into two cells which are referred to as daughter cells and that
are identical to each other. On the other hand, during the meiosis process which is also known as
reduction division, daughter cells are produced with half the information retrieved from the
parent cells (Ohkura, 2015, p.7).

THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN MITOSIS AND MEIOSIS 3
In consideration of the cells where the two processes (Mitosis & Meiosis) take place,
another difference emerges. This is because whereas mitosis can only take place in haploid and
diploid cells, meiosis takes place only within the cells which have either polypoid and in rare
cases with a diploid number of chromosomes. Just within the host cells point, another difference
comes in when the cell division is scrutinized, this is because during meiosis the diploid cells
divide twice to produce a total number of four nuclei while during the mitosis process, each
nuclear undergoes a single division to produce two nuclei only (De et al, 521). Another
difference comes in when the end products of the two processes are considered. In mitosis, after
the cell division takes place the end product is the body cells which are also known as somatic
cells whereas the end products after the meiosis process are sex cells which are also known as
gametes.
Further, when the daughter cells of the two processes (Mitosis & Meiosis) are compared,
another critical difference between the two processes is realized. After the mitosis process, the
daughter cells realized are genetically identical to the parent cell whereas the meiosis process
produces daughter cells with one-half of its genes from the parent cell and hence giving the cell
diversity (Maheshwari et al, 2015, p.11). Although there are other differences between these two
processes, the above differences are the main ones which standout whenever the two processes
are compared. The two processes are very important in living organisms. For instance, through
mitosis process, living organisms are able to grow and develop. Also, the vigorous activities
undergone by living organisms may lead to the death of cells and it’s only through the process of
mitosis that the death or worn out cells are replaced. In consideration of the meiosis process,
living organisms like human beings are able to sexually reproduce.

THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN MITOSIS AND MEIOSIS 4
References
Chaurasia, S. and Lehner, C.F., 2018. Dynamics and control of sister kinetochore behavior
during the meiotic divisions in Drosophila spermatocytes. PLoS genetics, 14(5), p.e1007372.
De, K., Bolaños-Villegas, P., Mitra, S., Yang, X., Homan, G., Jauh, G.Y. and Makaroff, C.A.,
2016. The Opposing Actions of Arabidopsis CHROMOSOME TRANSMISSION FIDELITY7
and WINGS APART-LIKE1 and 2 Differ in Mitotic and Meiotic Cells. The Plant Cell, 28(2),
pp.521-536.
Maheshwari, S., Tan, E.H., West, A., Franklin, F.C.H., Comai, L. and Chan, S.W., 2015.
Naturally occurring differences in CENH3 affect chromosome segregation in zygotic mitosis of
hybrids. PLoS genetics, 11(1), p.e1004970.
Ohkura, H., 2015. Meiosis: an overview of key differences from mitosis. Cold Spring Harbor
perspectives in biology, 7(5), p.a015859.