The tutor visits the related terms mitosis and meiosis.

Mitosis is, from a simple point of view, cell division: it forms two daughter cells, each identical to the original parent cell. It is the process by which organisms grow and heal. The daughter cells, like the parent from which they emerged, have the full number of chromosomes: 2n.

Meiosis is quite different from mitosis, and perhaps more complex to imagine. Meiosis is not used to grow or repair structures; rather, it’s used for reproductive purposes. In humans, meiosis only occurs in the testes (to produce sperm) and in the ovaries (to produce eggs). In plants, meiosis occurs in the sporophyte(s). Higher plants have two types of sporophytes: for example, flowering plants have ovules and pollen sacs. Lower plants or fungi may have only one type of sporophyte.

Meiosis produces reproductive cells that have half the chromosomes present at the beginning of the process. Cells produced from meiosis are referred to as having n chromosomes, rather than 2n.

Source:

Mader, Sylvia S. Inquiry into Life, 9th ed. Toronto: McGraw-Hill, 2000.

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