Transcript Meiosis
Meiosis
What’s the big idea?
DNA
• Every cell in your
body has two
complete sets of
DNA. (One set from
mom and one set
from dad).
DNA
• Your two sets of DNA
contain the same type of
information, but they are
NOT the same.
– Ex. You have two sets of
DNA that both give
instructions about your eye
color. Dad’s may code for
brown and mom’s may
code for blue. If this is the
case, you will have brown
eyes, but you will still have
the DNA needed to make
blue eyes.
DNA
• During interphase,
right before a cell gets
ready to divide, it
makes copies of all of
its DNA.
• The identical copies
are hooked together
at the center and are
called a chromosome.
Karyotype
• A “picture” of all the
chromosomes in a
cell is called a
karyotype.
• The DNA pairs (one
from mom and one
from dad) receive the
same number, and
are called
homologous pairs.
Karyotype
• Humans have 23
homologous
chromosome PAIRS,
which makes a total
of 46 chromosomes.
DNA
• After your DNA
replicates, you now
have 4 complete
copies of information
(2 sets from mom and
2 sets from dad).
• Now your cell is ready
to divide!
Why meiosis?
• Most of the cells in
your body divide
using mitosis, not
meiosis.
• Remember mitosis?
Mitosis
• Mitosis starts with
one cell and ends up
with two identical cells
that have the exact
same DNA as the
parent cell had.
Mitosis vs. meiosis
• Meiosis is used in
sexual reproduction,
and only occurs in the
sex cells in your body.
(mitosis occurs in all
your other cells.)
Mitosis vs. meiosis
• Why wouldn’t you
want to use mitosis to
make cells for sexual
reproduction (which
involves two
parents)?
Mitosis vs. meiosis
• TMI! (Too much
information)
• The overload of DNA
can be called
polyploidy.
• Animal cells usually
can’t survive with too
much DNA. (Although
many plant cells can)
Meiosis
• Meiosis is the process
your cells use to make
new cells that have only
half as much DNA as a
normal cell.
• These cells are called
gametes
• When that cell combines
with another ½ DNA cell,
you now have a normal
amount of DNA.
Meiosis
• Meiosis has 2 parts:
– Meiosis 1
– Meiosis 2
Meiosis 1
• Meiosis 1 has 4
phases:
–
–
–
–
Prophase 1
Metaphase 1
Anaphase 1
Telophase 1
Meiosis 1
• Meiosis 1 is very
similar to mitosis
EXCEPT that
instead of pulling
apart
chromosomes
during
metaphase,
homologous
chromosome
pairs are pulled
apart.
Meiosis 1
• Homologous pairs
don’t always pull
apart the way they
should. This failure to
separate is called
nondisjunction, and is
the cause of many
diseases including
Down Syndrome.
Meiosis 1
• Down syndrome is
cause by
nondisjunction on
chromosome #21.
• (Meaning that
someone who has
Down Syndrome has
1 extra copy of
chromosome #21 in
each of their cells.)
Meiosis 2
• Meiosis 2 has
four phases:
–
–
–
–
Prophase 2
Metaphase 2
Anaphase 2
Telophase 2
• Meiosis 2 is
very similar to
mitosis.
Meiosis
• Because Meiosis has 2
cell divisions, the new
cells only have half as
much DNA as the
original cell had.
• These cells are now
ready to combine with
another cell to have the
full amount of DNA
again.
• When these cells
combine, they form a
new cell called a zygote.
Meiosis
• When two cells with half
enough DNA combine to
form 1 cell with full sets of
DNA, (such as a sperm
cell combining with an
egg cell) it is called
fertilization.
• There are over
64,000,000,000,000
possible combinations
that could form from your
46 chromosomes.
Meiosis
• Meiosis:
– Is used in sexual
reproduction
– Begins with one cell and
ends up with 4 new cells
– Results in 4 genetically
different cells.
– Requires 2 parents to
produce one fully
functioning cell.
– Produces offspring that are
a mixture of both parents.
Meiosis
• Advantages:
– Meiosis produces
variety.
– Variety is a good thing!
– Diversity is important,
and very little diversity
would exist without
meiosis.
Meiosis
• Disadvantages:
– Organisms that
reproduce through
sexual reproduction
(meiosis) have to put
in the effort to find and
attract a mate in order
to reproduce.
Mitosis
• Mitosis:
– Is used in asexual
reproduction
– Begins with 1 cell and ends
up with 2 new cells.
– Results in 2 genetically
identical cells.
– Requires only 1 parent to
produce 2 fully functioning
cells.
– Is the process used in
cloning
Cloning using mitosis
Mitosis
• Advantages:
– Asexual reproduction
(through mitosis)
saves an organism the
time and energy of
having to find a mate.
Mitosis
• Disadvantages:
– Asexual reproduction
(through mitosis)
produces a genetically
identical offspring and
does not create
diversity.