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 process that divides cells to produce gametes. In humans, the male gamete is sperm and the female gamete is an egg. A cell produced in meiosis has half the chromosomes of the original cell. This is because the male gamete and the female gamete fuse together during fertilization.