Meiosis and Mitosis

Meiosis begins with one single cell. The cell makes a copy of each chromosome and divides up to make four new cells.

Why meiosis is important for fertilisation and survival chances:

• produces gametes with half genetic information from parent.
• for humans, gametes have 23 chromosomes each. 
• when a sperm (23 chromosomes) fuses with an egg (23 chromosomes) an embryo cell forms with 46 chromosomes.
• fusing of gametes where half of male and half of female join, making genetic variation. 
• genetic variation is essential for evolution and survival chances of species
• no two individuals are genetically identical so some genes will be an advantage with environment change/disease

Plants undergo mitosis to make clones. Two new daughter cells are made.They are genetically identical to the original cell.