Meiosis
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- The reduction division process by which haploid gametes and spores are formed, consisting of a single duplication of the genetic material followed by two mitotic divisions.
Susan Allender-Hagedorn and Charles Hagedorn - Cite This Source - This Definition - The two-stage process in sexual reproduction by which the chromosome number is reduced from the somatic to the haploid number. The first division, in which homologous chromosomes pair and exchange genetic material, is followed by amitotic division. The nucleus divides twice, but the chromosomes only once, generating haploid nuclei, which develop into the gametes (egg and sperm in animals; egg and s in plants).
UN Food and Agriculture Organization - Cite This Source - This Definition - amphimixis, Gamete, gametogenesis, isogamy, life cycle, maturation, meiotic product, zygospore
- The process of two consecutive cell divisions in the diploid progenitors of sex cells. Meiosis results in four rather than two daughter cells, each with a haploid set of chromosomes. See also: mitosis
Human Genome Project - Cite This Source - This Definition - flow cytometry, independent assortment, interphase, segregation
- A special process of cell division comprising two nuclear divisions in rapid succession that result in four cells (that will become gametes) with the haploid number of chromosomes. (Based on SMD)
The President's Council on Bioethics - Cite This Source - This Definition - Cell division of a gamete to reduce the chromosomes within it to half the normal number. This is to ensure that fertilization restores the full number of chromosomes rather than causing aneuploidy, or an abnormal number of chromosomes.
NIH - Cite This Source - This Definition - A process where two successive cells divide and produce cells, eggs, or sperm that contain half the number of chromosomes in the somatic cells. During fertilization, the nuclei of the sperm and ovum fuse and produce a zygote with the full chromosome complements.
DHHS - Cite This Source - This Definition - Egg cylinder, Haploid human cell, in vitro fertilization, In vitro fertilization (IVF), oocyte, parthenogenesis, Polar Body, syngamy, zygote