Difference between Mitosis and Meiosis

By | September 9, 2021
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  • Cell happen to be fundamental unit of life.
  • New cells will arise from existing cells.
  • A cell will divide to give rise to two cells and these two cells can form four cells and so on. This is termed as “Cell reproduction” or Cell division“.
  • Cell division usually occur by Mitosis or Meiosis .

Following are the few differences between Mitosis and Meiosis:

Differences Mitosis Meiosis
DefinitionMitosis is type of cell division occurring in somatic cells to form to identical daughter cells.Meiosis is type of cell division occurring in germ cells cells to form to four haploid cells with varied genetic information compared to parental cells.
FunctionForms all kinds of cells required for growth and repair. Do not form gametes or sex cellsFormation of gametes – Sperm and egg
Place of occurrenceSomatic cellsGerm or reproductive cells
No. of stagesoneCompletes in two stages
ProphaseSimple and shortLonger with many sub stages
Crossing overAbsentPresent to form gametes with different genetic identity
Pairing of homologous chromosomesNoYes. Pairing observed from zygotene of prophase I till metaphase I.  
Mother cell or parental cellCan be haploid or diploidAlways diploid
Metaphasecentromere towards equatorial plate and ends of chromosomes point to polesAt metaphase I, Centromere in towards poles and Chromosome ends towards equatorial or metaphase plate.
Homologous chromosomesHomologous chromosome are not separated.Homologous chromosome gets separated at anaphase I.
Centromere divisionCentromere division takes place at anaphase I.
Sister chromatids gets separated.
Centromere division and sister chromatid separation takes place only at anaphase II
Spindle fibersCompletely disappear at telophase IDoesn’t disappear completely by telophase I
Telophase ITwo copies of each chromosome (homologous chromosomes) end up at poles. Single copy (but replicated ) of each chromosome (haploid) end up at pole at the end of telophase I
Chromosome numberRemains same as parental cellReduced to half ( 2n to n)
Type of reproductionAsexualSexual
Daughter Cell The genetic make up of daughter cells are identical to parental cell. (diploid)The genetic constitution of daughter cells usually differs from parental cell due to crossing over – each chromosome will a mix of both paternal and maternal genes. Independent assortment of homologous chromosomes at metaphase I also adds to genetic constitution variation observed in embryo, formed after fertilization.
Daughter cells formed are haploid.

Discovered by
Walther FlemmingOscar Hertwig
Differences between Mitosis and Meiosis

Image Credit: Biology openstax