Why do all the daughter cells in meiosis have a unique genetic makeup? Shouldn't there be two pairs of daughter cells and two daughter cells should have the same genes?
Why do all the daughter cells in meiosis have a unique genetic makeup? Shouldn't there be two pairs of daughter cells and two daughter cells should have the same genes?
Humans usually have 23 pairs of chromosomes. Each component of a pair is different – we get one from our mother, and one from our father. When cells are getting ready to divide, the genetic material is replicated, meaning that there are 2 identical strands of each chromosome (that characteristic "X" shape). A bit of "crossing over" often occurs. The first division separates the chromosome pairs. The second division separates the replicated chromosomes.
It's all a bit confusing when the term "chromosome" can kind of refer to a few different things! But I find a nice diagram always helps to explain things
Humans usually have 23 pairs of chromosomes. Each component of a pair is different – we get one from our mother, and one from our father. When cells are getting ready to divide, the genetic material is replicated, meaning that there are 2 identical strands of each chromosome (that characteristic "X" shape). A bit of "crossing over" often occurs. The first division separates the chromosome pairs. The second division separates the replicated chromosomes.
It's all a bit confusing when the term "chromosome" can kind of refer to a few different things! But I find a nice diagram always helps to explain things