Mitosis Vs. Meiosis: a Look at The Similarities and Differences

Mitosis and Meiosis Compare/Contrast

Mitosis and Meiosis are two different types of cell division in humans and other animals. They have many similarities and a few important differences such as what their goal is and slight differences in the results after dividing. To explain Mitosis and Meiosis basically Mitosis is the process of a cell splitting in half and producing two new cells identical to the original parent cell. It duplicates the parent cell’s DNA. Mitosis is the normal way for a cell to divide and is used for growth and repair. Meiosis on the other hand is the process used by sex cells, the cells produced by Meiosis receive only half of the original cell’s DNA chromosomes. Mitosis and Meiosis are similar in many ways but also are different from each other in important ways.

Both Mitosis and Meiosis have the goal to pass genetic information from one parent cells to multiple daughter cells. The way these cell division processes do this is by using chromosomes in the nuclei of the cells. The process of dividing for Mitosis has 4 stages while Meiosis has 8 stages. Mitosis and Meiosis have the same first 4 stages, prophase, metaphase, anaphase, and telophase. In Meiosis it duplicates the 4 stages with only one difference which occurs in metaphase 2 where before the chromosomes line up in the middle of the cell they are lined up in homologous pairs on top of one another. After the chromosomes line up in the middle they are pulled apart by the spindles that were created in the prophase stage. The end result of mitosis is 2 diploid cells that contain identical genetic information to the parent cell after its 4 stages. Meiosis on the other hand has an end result of 4 haploid daughter cells that contain different genetic information from the parent cell. Some DNA from the mother’s egg and some from the father’s sperm cell. Those are the major differences between the process of Mitosis and the process of Meiosis.

Mitosis and Meiosis have stages in their process that are almost exactly the same to one another with slight differences and amounts. The stages are interphase which includes the substages of G1, S, and G2. Following interphase is prophase, metaphase, anaphase and telophase. Mitosis does each of these stages one time then has a stage called cytokinesis where the cytoplasm divides and the 2 cells are separated. On the other hand in Meiosis it goes through the five stages interphase 1, prophase 1, metaphase 1, anaphase 1, and telophase 1, and then goes through cytokinesis to divide the cytoplasm and create separate cells. Then in mitosis it goes through the cycle once more and has interphase 2, prophase 2, metaphase 2, anaphase 2, and telophase 2. Followed by cytokinesis once more. All of the stages in the cycle are the same as in mitosis with the exception of metaphase 2 where instead of lining up in the middle the chromosomes line up in homologous pairs before being spread to the sides by the spindles.

Mitosis and Meiosis are similar ways of cells dividing although they do this in slightly different ways with different goals for the end of the process too. They are both important to life and reproduce cells to help organisms grow, repair themselves, and reproduce.

Works Cited

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