what is the major disadvantage of mitosis as a means of reproduction?

Question

Science question, need help please! what is the major disadvantage of mitosis as a means of reproduction?

Answer 1

Mitosis does not give any variation, we would all have the same DNA in every cell, in every person.

Answer 2

I agree. This is a weird way to phrase the question. Mitosis is the fastest way to make exact copies of a cell. In multicellular organisms, this is the only way to allow for growth, and replacement of damaged cells with cells containint the same genetic information, so they can comunicate and function properly ( for instance, if meiosis formed all of the Red blood cells, each cell could have a different AB blood type and they could all be destroyed--this is clearly not the technical term, but hopefully you know what I mean without a real explanation) In single celled organisms, it allows for replicaiton. However, it doesn't create genetic variability, except in the unique case of a mutation. This means that other methods must be used for variability which allows for adaptibility. I'm not sure if that answers your question. I hope it does but I think that the question was oddly worded- I can name some advantages of mitosis, and then some of meiosis, but they are both advantagous in different circumstances. Clearly, in a somatic cell, meiosis would be a disaster, but in a gamete, mitosis doesn't allow for any adaptation to new climates and circumstances

Answer 3

Although errors in mitosis are rare, the process may go wrong, especially during early cellular divisions in the zygote. Mitotic errors can be especially dangerous to the organism because future offspring from this parent cell will carry the same disorder.

In non-disjunction, a chromosome may fail to separate during anaphase. One daughter cell will receive both sister chromosomes and the other will receive none. This results in the former cell having three chromosomes coding for the same thing (two sisters and a homologue), a condition known as trisomy, and the latter cell having only one chromosome (the homologous chromosome), a condition known as monosomy. These cells are considered aneuploidic cells. Aneuploidy can cause cancer.

Mitosis is a traumatic process. The cell goes through dramatic changes in ultrastructure, its organelles disintegrate and reform in a matter of hours, and chromosomes are jostled constantly by probing microtubules. Occasionally, chromosomes may become damaged. An arm of the chromosome may be broken and the fragment lost, causing deletion. The fragment may incorrectly reattach to another, non-homologous chromosome, causing translocation. It may reattach to the original chromosome, but in reverse orientation, causing inversion. Or, it may be treated erroneously as a separate chromosome, causing chromosomal duplication. The effect of these genetic abnormalities depend on the specific nature of the error. It may range from no noticeable effect at all to organism death.

Answer 4

Mitosis results in offspring that are genetically identical to the parents. Meiosis results in offspring that are similar, but not identical to the parents.

Mitosis does not allow evolution to continue, and is thus inferior.

Answer 5

It limits evolution. There is no variation with mitosis.