Mitosis- In order for a multicellular organism to grow , it must duplicate its number of cells. Cells duplicate by cell division. The two types of cell division are mitosis and meiosis. All somatic cells are produced during mitosis.Examples of somatic cells are skin and brain cells. Somatic cells are diploid, containing two sets of chromosomes. When a somatic cell divides, each of the daughter cells are identical to the parent cell. A diploid somatic cell will divide to produce 2 diploid daughter cells. the four phases of mitosis are Prophase, Metaohase, Anaphase, and Telophase.
Meiosis- Only sex cells are produced during meiosis. Examples of sex cells are sperm and eggs. Sex cells are haploid , having only 1 set of chromosomes. Sex cells are produced in gonads. Gonads are organs such as ovaries in females and testes in males. If a somatic cell has 24 chromosomes, the sex cells in that organism will have 12 chromosomes. Meiosis begins with a diploid parent cell. After one division, 2 identical daughter cells are produced. Those cells divide a second time. After the second division there are 4 haploid daughter cells. gametes must be haploid so that when they combine during fertilization, a diploid zygote is produced. If the sex cells in an organism have 16 chromosomes, the somatic cells in the same organism will have 32 chromosomes. Before meiosis begins, the cell replicates its DNA during interphase. The phases of meiosis are prophase 1, metaphase 1, anaphase 1, Telophase 1, prophase 2, metaphase 2, anaphase 2, telophase 2.