Why is meiosis known as reduction division?
1 Answer
It halves the ploidy number.
Explanation:
In mitosis, which is called the equational division the ploidy number remains the same. For example, a human cell which is a diploid (2n) when it undergoes mitosis the resulting daughter cells; not only they are exact copies of the mother cell, they are also diploid (2n). Furthermore, it can be said that the chromosome number between the mother and daughter cells are also the same. In the case of humans, 46.
Meiosis is called the reductional division because is halves the ploidy number. It is also important to note that meiosis only occurs in gametes. In humans, when a cell undergoes meiosis its ploidy number halves from 2n to n and their chromosome number from 46 to 23.
Reduction of the ploidy number and chromosome number is important to restore the normal ploidy number (2n) and chromosome number (46) when the sperm cell fertilizes the egg cell. (23 from the sperm + 23 from the egg).
