Differences Between Meiosis and Mitosis

There are two processes of cell division that are very tricky. They are mitosis and meiosis. Many people often get confused with the two about their functions. They both serve as mechanisms for cell division. However, quite significantly, they are very much different in fact and occur in different situations. Mitosis and meiosis take place in different places. This is one of the first major differences between the two. Mitosis takes place within somatic cells (cells that make up the body), while meiosis takes place within gamete cells (sex cells). As such, meiosis produces more gamete cells, and mitosis produces somatic cells. Mitosis is the process which is responsible for replacing dead or wounded skin cells. Mitosis divides a single somatic cell into two daughter cells, while gametes are produced in fours; more specifically, one single cell produces four daughter cells. The type of cell that each process occurs in also affects how many chromosomes that each mother cell has. Somatic cells can have either a haploid or diploid of chromosomes. The number of chromosomes in the mother cell are duplicated in the new daughter cells, so both mother cell and daughter cell have an equal number of chromosomes. Meiosis' gamete cells are found only with a diploid of chromosomes. The mother cell will then divide leaving its four daughter cells with a haploid of chromosomes. This is because the chromosomes of a female and male sex cell merge when the female egg is fertilized and thus the new cell (formed through fertilization) will have a diploid of chromosomes from which to build upon as the new organism develops. DNA duplication is also confused as occurring in both Mitosis and Meiosis. In one regard, this assumption is correct. However, this correctness requires that a person specify at which stage of meiosis DNA duplication occurs. DNA duplication occurs during S phase of Mitosis as well as S phase of Meiosis I. Meiosis II does not see the S phase and as such