Cell Division: The Two M’s (Mitosis & Meiosis)

Abstract

As you are reading this chapter right now, the cells in your body are continuously undergoing cell division. In the human body, there are two types of cell division that control how DNA is replicated.Mitosis, one of the two types, involves the replication of a parent cell into two identical daughter cells. Mitotic cell division continually renews cells for development through the following process: Interphase, Prophase, Metaphase, Anaphase, Telophase, and Cytokinesis. Meiosis is the second category of cell division that commits a parent cell to the process of replicating into four daughter cells. As the parent cell divides in Meiosis, the daughter cells produced acquire half the chromosome number from the parent. Meiosis occurs in sex cells through the following process: Interphase, Prophase (I or II), Metaphase (I or II), Anaphase (I or II), Telophase (I or II), and Cytokinesis. This may look similar to Mitosis, but there are key differences in each stage that defines Meiosis as a separate cell division from Mitosis.