MITOSIS, CYTOKINESIS, MEIOSIS AND APOPTOSIS Michelle Gehringer Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology, University of Port Elizabeth, South Africa Keywords: Cell cycle, checkpoints, growth factors, mitosis, meiosis, cyclin, cyclin dependent protein kinases, G1 phase, S phase, spindle, prophase, anaphase, metaphase,
Summary: At the end of meiosis, 4 daughter cells are formed = eggs or sperm. Each contains half as many chromosomes as the parent cell (n); each cell is genetically different from its parents and from its siblings. Fertilization of an egg by a sperm restores the chromosome number to 2n.
Meiosis is the type of cell division that produces both male and female gametes. Spermatogenesis is the production of male gametes, and oogenesis is the production of female gametes. For both types of gametes, meiosis serves to halve the number of chromosomes so that upon fertilization the offspring has the requisite number of chromosomes.