What would have happened if meiosis not occur during the production of human sperm cell and egg cell?
Answers
Meiosis is the process that creates gametes, better known as eggs and sperm, which are essential for sexual reproduction. Gametes are formed from germ cells, which are found in the reproductive organs, the testes (males) or the ovaries (females). The germ cells are undifferentiated cells that remain inactive until an organism reaches sexual maturity. When an organism needs to begin reproducing the germ cells become active and undergo meiosis to produce eggs and sperm. Meiosis is necessary because diploid organism have two sets of chromosomes, one paternal and one maternal. For a diploid organism to undergo sexual reproduction it needs to create gametes that contain only one set of chromosomes so the number of chromosomes in the next generation remains the same (ie one paternal and one maternal). This is also why we don’t look exactly like our parents; we are a genetic mix of our father and mother. To create gametes with only one set of chromosomes, germ cells replicate their DNA making two copies of the maternal and paternal chromosomes and then undergo two rounds of division, which creates four gametes each with one set of chromosomes. When sexual reproduction occurs a gamete from the mother is fertilized by a gamete from the father. Once these two cells are fused the number of chromosomes in that cell is brought back to two sets (one paternal and one maternal).