meiosis

• gametes are produced in meiosis
• gametes contain half the number of chromosomes as zygotes
• in humans, meiosis only happens in reproductive organs
• before a cell begins dividing, it duplicates its genetic information, forming two armed chromosomes
• in the first division of meiosis, the chromosome pairs line up in the centre of the cell
• after the first division of meiosis, the pairs are pulled apart so each new cell has only one pair of each chromosome
• in the second division of meiosis, the chromosomes line up again and the arms of the chromosomes are pulled apart
• as a result of meiosis, you get four gametes that are genetically different from one another
• after two gametes have fused during fertilisation, the resulting new cell divides by mitosis to make a copy of itself