Mitosis and Meiosis – What is the Difference?
Now that we have discussed both mitosis and meiosis in detail, its time to see the difference between between Mitosis and Meiosis 😊
Differences between Mitosis and Meiosis
Differences between Mitosis and Meiosis
In this post I have listed out main differences between mitosis and meiosis. This use to be one of the topics which was confusing to me at several points, so I made a table where I put all main differences between these two process. I hope this will help you guys too 🙂
Let’s begin with the definitions. Mitosis and meiosis are two main methods of cell divisions.
Mitosis – is a process of asexual reproduction where a cell divides in two identical daughter cells (diploid) with an equal number of chromosomes. Whereas in case of
Meiosis – the number of chromosomes are reduced by half following the separation of homologous chromosomes which results in production of four haploid daughter cells.
| Differences | Mitosis | Meiosis |
| Type of Reproduction | Asexual | Sexual |
| Takes Place in / Function / Creates | Somatic cells | Germ cells |
| DNA Replication | Once | Once |
| Cell Division | Once | Twice |
| Chromosome Behavior / Pairing of Homologous Chromosomes | Chromosomes behave independently of each other | The homologous chromosomes forms pairs and remains adjacent to each other |
| Synapsis – Crossing Over and Exchange of Segments of Chromatid | Crossing over and exchange does not take place | Crossing over and exchange takes place |
| Type and Number of Chromosomes in Parent Cells | Diploid (2n) – 46 chromosomes | Diploid (2n) – 46 chromosomes |
| Type and Number of Chromosomes in Daughter Cells | Diploid (2n) – 46 chromosomes | Haploid (n) – 23 chromosomes |
| Number of Daughter Cells | 2 Diploid cells | 4 Haploid cells |
For more explanation on this topic, watch this video 🙂