

Study with the several resources on Docsity
Earn points by helping other students or get them with a premium plan
Prepare for your exams
Study with the several resources on Docsity
Earn points to download
Earn points by helping other students or get them with a premium plan
Community
Ask the community for help and clear up your study doubts
Discover the best universities in your country according to Docsity users
Free resources
Download our free guides on studying techniques, anxiety management strategies, and thesis advice from Docsity tutors
Mitosis and meiosis are both crucial to life. Without meiosis, organisms would not be able to reproduce effectively. If organisms did not undergo mitosis, then ...
Typology: Study notes
1 / 3
This page cannot be seen from the preview
Don't miss anything!
Mitosis & Meiosis One of the requirements for living things is that they must be made of cells. Another characteristic is that all living things must experience growth. So, how exactly do living things grow? How do babies grow up to be adults? The answer lies in the cellular process of mitosis. Mitosis is the process by which eukaryotic cells divide. You should remember from our study on cells that a eukaryotic cell contains a nucleus. Most of your cells are eukaryotic, so most of your cells – skin cells, lung cells, and stomach cells - -- undergo mitosis. Mitosis does not occur in prokaryotic organisms like bacteria, nor does it occur in some of your cells (but more on that later.) The most important thing to know about mitosis is that it results in new cells that have the same number of chromosomes as the old cells. So, this is a form of asexual reproduction. For one-celled organisms like amoeba, paramecia, and euglena, this causes the offspring to be exact clones of the parents. In humans, this results in new cells that replace old ones. Without mitosis, your old cells would die and your body would wear out. But the new cells – with the same number of chromosomes – take over the job of their parents.
Mitosis is also what causes babies to grow. After a sperm fertilizes an egg, a zygote is formed. This zygote is only one-cell, and it undergoes mitosis repeatedly until it develops into a baby made of trillions of cells. The same process happens
A basic representation of mitosis: