In biology, there are often vocabulary terms that sound pretty similar. Chromosome, chromatid, chromatin, transcription, translation, mitosis, meiosis…you probably have encountered this. When I was first learning about mitosis and meiosis, I learned them both separately first.
And then I tried to figure out what was the same about them, what was different, why did they both matter? I would try to compare the stages by flipping through images. You know what would have really helped me? A side-by-side comparison.
And that's what this video is. We assume you already have a background of mitosis and meiosis. If not, take a look at our videos on them, but this video is a side-by-side comparison.
Presented in a split screen. Mitosis on the left, meiosis on the right. Both of these processes, along with the cytokinesis that follows them to split the cytoplasm, are involved in making new cells. Mitosis results in body cells.
Meiosis results in sperm and egg cells, otherwise known as the fancy term, gametes. Before we start mitosis and meiosis, let's look at what you start with. Your starting cell in both mitosis and meiosis is diploid, written here as 2N. That means it has two sets of chromosomes.
In humans, that's including one set of 23 chromosomes from mom and one set of 23 chromosomes from dad. 46 chromosomes total. During interphase, the cell duplicates the chromosomes. When you duplicate 46 chromosomes, you still say there are 46 chromosomes as the newly duplicated portion is still attached at the centromere region.
But there are actually 92 chromatids. Interphase isn't part of mitosis or meiosis, but it's a really important phase because it duplicates chromosomes before we get started. Just to point out, it's really hard to draw 46 chromosomes.
We're going to use 6 chromosomes in our diagrams when we illustrate what's happening, because it's much easier to draw and visualize. Oh, and just a fun fact, some insects have 6 chromosomes. Like mosquitoes. Unfortunately, I'm not a fan of mosquitoes, but mosquitoes do both mitosis and meiosis. When learning the stages, we give the acronym PMAT, which is helpful for understanding the stages.
Both mitosis and meiosis go through these stages, but But meiosis goes through them twice, and therefore has a number next to each PMAT stage. We're going to show some basic events for each PMAT stage, but please know that there is way more detail to explore than what we can include in this quick video. Prophase in mitosis.
Remember that pro can mean before, and this stage comes before the others. The chromosomes are visible, we say they are condensing, which means they are thickening. Phase one in meiosis. Happening here too, but the chromosomes are actually going to match up with their homologous pairs.
The word homologous means that the chromosomes are approximately the same size and they contain the same types of genes in the same locations. With each pair, one came from mom and one came from dad. In this formation, chromosomes can transfer their genetic information and exchange it between each other. It's called crossing over. It can make for what we call recombinant chromosomes.
Metaphase in mitosis. The nuclear envelope which had surrounded the nucleus was already disassembled before metaphase even started. For metaphase, I like to remember the M for middle because in this stage, the chromosomes line up in the middle of the cell in a single file line.
Metaphase 1 in meiosis. The chromosomes are in the middle as well, but they're still going to be in pairs in the middle of the cell, so it's not a single file line. Anaphase in mitosis.
I like to think as the A for away, the chromatids. are pulled away by the work of the spindles. They are moving to opposite sides of the cell.
Anaphase 1 in meiosis. Same thing, but in this case, it's the chromosomes, not chromatids, being pulled away to opposite sides of the cell. Telophase in mitosis and telophase 1 in meiosis.
The chromosomes are actually the complete opposite ends and new nuclei are forming on each side to make two new cells. And they are starting to surround the chromosomes on both sides as this will eventually form two cells. Cytokinesis follows to split the cytoplasm to complete the actual dividing of the cell.
So at the end of mitosis and cytokinesis, we end with two identical diploid cells. In humans, they would both have 46 chromosomes. This is great for organism growth growing requires making more cells after all, or replacing damaged cells. Onto meiosis 2. Prophase 2. Chromosomes are condensing in both cells.
It's not going to be as eventful as it was in Pro Phase 1, because they're not going to have homologous pairs and crossing over. Metaphase 2. M for middle, but this time the chromosomes are in a single file line, similar to how metaphase looked in mitosis. Anaphase 2. Think A for away. This time though it's actually the chromatids that are getting pulled away. Telophase 2. Chromosomes are at the complete opposite ends and new nuclei are forming on each side to make these new cells.
Cytokinesis will follow meiosis 2 to completely split the cytoplasm. We are now We're now finished with meiosis and we end with four non-identical cells, gametes. Males make sperm cells in meiosis and females make egg cells in meiosis.
These gametes are haploid, meaning they have half the number of chromosomes as the original starting cell. In the case of humans, the resulting cells would each have 23 chromosomes. By the way, when a sperm and egg cell combine, it results into a diploid cell, a fertilized egg, otherwise known as a zygote.
which will then start a series of divisions using mitosis to give rise to a brand new organism. Well, that's it for the Amoeba Sisters, and we remind you to stay curious.