What type of cell division produces four daughter cells, each containing half the chromosomes of the parent cell?

What type of cell division produces four daughter cells, each containing half the chromosomes of the parent cell?

• A. Mitosis
• B. Meiosis
• C. Binary Fission
• D. Cloning

Answer: (B)

The type of cell division that produces four daughter cells, each containing half the number of chromosomes of the parent cell, is meiosis. This process is crucial for sexual reproduction and occurs in the formation of gametes—sperm and ova in animals. During meiosis, one parent cell undergoes two successive divisions: meiosis I and meiosis II. In meiosis I, homologous chromosomes are separated into two cells, reducing the chromosome number by half. Consequently, each of these two cells then undergoes meiosis II, where the sister chromatids are separated, leading to a total of four genetically distinct daughter cells, each with half the number of chromosomes compared to the original parent cell. This reduction in chromosome number is essential for maintaining the stability of chromosome numbers across generations when gametes fuse during fertilization. Other processes like mitosis create identical daughter cells with the same chromosome number as the parent, while binary fission is a simpler form of cell division seen in prokaryotes, resulting in two identical cells. Cloning typically refers to a process that produces identical copies of an organism but does not describe a method of typical cell division like meiosis does.

The type of cell division that produces four daughter cells, each containing half the number of chromosomes of the parent cell, is meiosis. This process is crucial for sexual reproduction and occurs in the formation of gametes—sperm and ova in animals. During meiosis, one parent cell undergoes two successive divisions: meiosis I and meiosis II.

In meiosis I, homologous chromosomes are separated into two cells, reducing the chromosome number by half. Consequently, each of these two cells then undergoes meiosis II, where the sister chromatids are separated, leading to a total of four genetically distinct daughter cells, each with half the number of chromosomes compared to the original parent cell. This reduction in chromosome number is essential for maintaining the stability of chromosome numbers across generations when gametes fuse during fertilization.

Other processes like mitosis create identical daughter cells with the same chromosome number as the parent, while binary fission is a simpler form of cell division seen in prokaryotes, resulting in two identical cells. Cloning typically refers to a process that produces identical copies of an organism but does not describe a method of typical cell division like meiosis does.