Question

How many times the cells divide during meiosis?

Answer 1

Meiosis is the process by which a single cell divides twice to produce four cells with half the original genetic information. These are our sex cells – sperm in men, eggs in women. One cell divides twice during meiosis to form four daughter cells.

Complete answer:
Meiosis is the process by which sex cells, such as female egg cells or male sperm cells, are formed. What should you remember about meiosis? Each new cell in meiosis contains a distinct set of genetic information. Following meiosis, sperm and egg cells can fuse to form a new organism.

Meiosis is responsible for the genetic diversity found in all sexually reproducing organisms. During meiosis, a small portion of each chromosome separates and reattaches to another. This is known as "crossing over" or "genetic recombination." Full siblings created from the same two parents' egg and sperm cells can look very different from one another due to genetic recombination.

Meiosis has two cell division cycles, which are conveniently referred to as Meiosis I and Meiosis II. Meiosis I reduces the number of chromosomes by half and is also the time when crossing over occurs. Meiosis II reduces the amount of genetic information in each cell's chromosome by half. As a result, four daughter cells known as haploid cells are formed. Haploid cells have only one set of chromosomes, which is half the number of chromosomes found in diploid cells.

The cell goes through interphase before beginning meiosis I. The parent cell, like mitosis, uses this time to prepare for cell division by gathering nutrients and energy and making a copy of its DNA. This DNA will be switched around during genetic recombination and then divided between four haploid cells during the next stages of meiosis.

Due to the fact that cell division occurs twice during meiosis, a single starting cell can produce four gametes (eggs or sperm). Cells go through four stages during each round of division: prophase, metaphase, anaphase, and telophase.

Thus, the cells divide two times during meiosis.

Note: Meiosis produces haploid gametes, but they are not genetically identical. Consider the meiosis II diagram above, which depicts the products of meiosis for a cell with 2n = 4 chromosomes. Each gamete contains a distinct "sample" of the genetic material found in the starting cell.