Do somatic cells go through meiosis? Do they also go through mitosis?
1 Answer
Dec 4, 2016
Somatic cells do not undergo meiosis, but do undergo mitosis.
Explanation:
Meiosis is what germ/sex cells do in order to produce genetically unique haploid daughter cells, called gametes. The combination of these in offspring promotes genetic diversity.
However, there is no need for somatic cells (body cells that do not participate in reproduction, all cells other than germ/sex cells) to be any different from each other, and so they produce identical copies through mitosis.
