Mitosis and meiosis are two different types of cell division, both of which are well known in the world of biology and cells.
The cell is the most basic and functional unit of a living being, which is essential in any living being for there to be life, therefore, in a living being there must always be one or more cells.
There are several types of cells, among which we have prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells, eukaryotic being animal or plant. Eukaryotic cells are much more evolutionarily advanced, with prokaryotes being the most primitive.
As cells die, they need to reproduce for the body to stay alive, creating copies of their genetic material. Prokaryotes do it with the so-called cell fission and eukaryotes have other systems, called mitosis and meiosis.
Both processes of cell division are necessary to perpetuate the genes of the cell and therefore the life of the living being, therefore they are the object of study in schools and institutes from very early courses.
The difference between mitosis and meiosis is usually a typical exam question for the biology subject, therefore, it is necessary to learn it well in order not to fail the exam and ensure a point in the qualification of the same.
What do you need to differentiate mitosis and meiosis?
- Knowing basic biology, for example knowing what a cell is and other terms of it so as not to be mistaken.
Instructions to differentiate mitosis and meiosis
- Mitosis: Mitosis is a fast and simple cell division process, with which we manage to clone a mother cell into two daughter cells with an identical genetic code to the original cell. It is a method used in all living beings and that manages to perpetuate the existence of certain cellular genes. The way to do it is to divide the nucleus of the mother cell in two, doubling the number of chromosomes of the same, when dividing in two, the resulting cells have the same number of chromosomes from the mother, leaving cells completely identical to each other.
- Meiosis: Meiosis is another cell division process, characteristic of sexual reproduction, creating from a zygote cell, four daughter cells with genes from the zygote cell. The zygote cell is created from a fusion of the egg and the sperm, which occurs in sexual reproduction. The process is a complex process that is carried out in four phases, in which the first phases serve to create a chromosomal complex within the zygote and separate it and the final phases are a mitosis of the two resulting cells. The utility of meiosis is more than anything to ensure that the offspring have genes that are different from the parents, the resulting embryos being a genetic fusion of their parents.
- Differences: Once we have defined both concepts, we are going to say the fundamental differences between the two. The first difference is that meiosis only exists in sexually reproducing types of animals and that mitosis exists in both sexually and asexually reproducing animals. In mitosis we have 2 daughter cells as a result and in mitosis we obtain double the number of daughter cells, that is, a total of 4. In meiosis, the zygote must have a duplication of chromosomes since when it makes the first division, it loses the half of them, on the other hand, in meiosis, cells do not lose chromosomes, therefore, they should not be duplicated when dividing. Finally, meiosis allows genetic variation and mitosis does not.
Tips to differentiate mitosis and meiosis
- The importance of genetic variation: Meiosis is very important, since genetic variability in the offspring favors the survival of the best genes. If a cell in sexual reproduction were not different from its progenitor, these genes would end up becoming defective and would not survive for a long time, for which it is necessary that there be cell division processes that favor genetic variability.
- A mitosis within meiosis: Something curious that I have not named is that mitosis is within meiosis, since the second cell division that occurs in cells is clearly a full -fledged mitosis, since it creates two identical cells from each daughter cell, a necessary process to guarantee that at least one of the cells reaches the mother’s uterus and the offspring is born.