Meiosis

• Meiosis leads to an independent assortment of chromosomes and a unique composition of alleles in daughter cells.
• Asexual reproduction creates offspring with low genetic diversity
• Gametes is the name given to sex cells like sperm and eggs
• Chromosomes replicate in interphase before meiosis
• Homologous chromosomes separate in meiosis I
• Sister chromatids separate in meiosis II
• Independent assortment of genes is due to the random orientation of pairs of homologous chromosomes in meiosis I
• Chiasmata formation between non-sister chromatids can result in an exchange of alleles
• Crossing over is the exchange of DNA material between non-sister homologous chromatids
• Crossing over produces new combinations of alleles on the chromosomes of the haploid cells