The significance of meiosis is given below:
● Formation of gametes: Meiosis forms gametes that are essential for sexual reproduction.
● Genetic information: It switches on the genetic information, for the development of gametophytes or gametes and switches off the saprophytic information.
● Maintenance of chromosome number: Meiosis maintains the fixed number of chromosomes in sexually reproducing organisms by producing gametes that have half of the chromosomes as compared to the mother cell. It is vital since the chromosome number develops into a double after fertilization
● Assortment of chromosomes: In meiosis maternal and paternal chromosomes separate independently. It leads to the reordering of chromosomes and the characteristics controlled by them. The variations help the breeders in enhancing the races of domesticated animals and plants.
● Crossing over: It leads to the recombination of genes that brings about variations.
● Mutations: Chromosomal and genomic mutations can occur by irregularities of meiotic divisions. Some of these mutations are useful to the organism and are propagated by natural selection.
● Evidence of basic relationship of organisms: Details of meiosis are basically similar in the vast majority of organisms indicating their basic resemblance and relationship.
Answered by Pragya Singh | 1 year agoAnalyse the events during every stage of cell cycle and notice how the following two parameters change
(i) number of chromosomes (N) per cell
(ii) amount of DNA content (C) per cell
Can there be mitosis without DNA replication in the ‘S’ phase?
Discuss with your teacher about
(i) haploid insects and lower plants where cell-division occurs.
(ii) some haploid cells in higher plants where cell-division does not occur.
Distinguish anaphase of mitosis from anaphase 1 of meiosis.
List the major differences between meiosis and mitosis.