Meiosis is a scientific process where eukaryotic cells divide themselves to produce gametes for sexual reproduction. During the process of meiosis, the DNA-carrying cell divides itself twice- meiosis I and meiosis II- to produce four gametes. These gametes have distinctive features. This is because during Meiosis there is crossing over and independent assortment occurring at different stages of this unique process. Meiosis is thus necessary in sexual recombination to perpetuate survival of living animals in the ever changing environment as it results into genetic variation.
Meiosis fulfills genetic multiplicity firstly during crossing over. Initially, in meiosis I, during prophase I, chromosomes with similar genes pair up, one from the male and the other from the female. After pairing up, they interchange part of their arms with one another. Consequently, the homologous chromosomes now have a mixture of one another’s parts of DNA (Moens, 2012). Moreover, the process of meiosis leads to genetic variation during independent assortment. The chromosomes at the end of meiosis I are again copied and replicated into four distinct chromosomes that go to separate reproductive cells. These reproducing cells-gametes, will now have haploid chromosomes, that is, each gamete will contain 23-chromosomes. Each gamete will be a peculiar improved version with a rich diversity of DNA combination.
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In addition, after meiosis, in the course of reproduction, the unique sperm fertilizes the unique egg in a process known as gamete fusion to form a cell with 46 chromosomes (Moens, 2012). This cell will boast of even greater combination of DNA in comparison to the sperm of the father and the egg of the mother.
In conclusion meiosis is of great necessity since, not only does it guarantees every organism reproducing sexually to contain the accurate number of chromosomes but also yields to genetic diversity through the process of recombination.
