what is the purpose of meiosis?

Answer 1

Meiosis is the process by which eggs and sperm are formed. This process is often referred to as "reduction division" because the compliment of chromosomes of the original germ cells is cut in half in the final products, eggs and sperm.

In meiosis, the germ cells duplicate their chromosomes once, but undergo the four stages of cell division twice (Prophase I, Metaphase I, Anaphase I, Telophase 1, and then, without duplicating the chromosomes enter Prophase II, Metaphase II, Anaphase II, and Telophase II.) The result is four sperm with one-half the original chromosomes or 1 egg with one-half the chromosomes and three Barr Bodies (non-functional eggs with one-half the chromosomes of the original germ cell but with very little cytoplasm. This is because there is an unequal division of the cytoplasm (cytokinesis) in the production of the egg. The sperm cells have equal division of the cytoplasm.)

BIOLOGY TEACHER

Answer 2

Meiosis is when a cell and its DNA split in half. Each of the resulting cells gets half the DNA of the parent cell (a cell with half the original DNA is called a haploid cell). This happens in the formation of sperm or ova. The purpose of this is that when sperm and ova combine (fertilization), the single resulting cell will have half its DNA from the sperm, and half from the ova. Thus, the resulting cell has two sets of DNA (is a diploid cell) which is the normal state.