MEIOSIS

- Meiosis is a special type of cell division which germ cells undergo to produce
gametes (egg and sperm cells).

1. PROPHASE 1: The chromosomes condense. Homologous chromosomes form pairs

and exchange fragments of DNA, in a process called crossover.
2. METAPHASE 1: The homologous chromosome aligns in pairs to form bivalents or
tetrads along the Cell's equatorial plane.
3. ANAPHASE 1: Pulled by spindle fibres, the homologous chromosomes separate and
move toward opposite poles.
4. TELOPHASE 1 AND CYTOKINESIS: Two haploid daughter cells are formed, with
half of the parent cell's chromosome,
5. PROPHASE 2: without passing through an interphase period, the nuclear membrane
disappears and a spindle is formed again. The chromosomes made of two
chromatids, move toward the equatorial plane.
6. METAPHASE 2: The chromosomes align along the cell's equatorial plane.
7. ANAPHASE 2 : The sister chromatids separate and move toward opposite poles of
the cell.
8. TELOPHASE 2 AND CYTOKINESIS): Four haploid daughter-cells are formed. They
are different from one another and one contains half the parent cell's Chromosomes.

- In the first meiotic division, the policy in the two resulting cells is halved. (reductional
division)
- The second meiotic division results in four haploid cells different from the original one
and different from one another.

● Meiosis:
- Takes place in germ cells.
- A long process.
- Nucleus divides twice.
- Crossing over occurs in homologous chromosomes.
- Homologous chromosomes separate in anaphase 1 and sister chromatids separate
in anaphase 2.
- Four daughter cells with half the parent number of chromosomes and a different
genetic combination are produced.

● Biological significance of meiosis:

- Gametes’ ploidy is reduced by half, essential to maintain a species’ number of
chromosomes after the fertilisation of the egg cell.
- Crossover between homologous chromosomes takes place during meiotic division,
resulting in gametes that are different from one another. In this way, sexual
reproduction creates gentic variation in populations.

UNIT 2. GENETICS
1. GLOSSARY

- HEREDITARY TRAIT: anatomical or physiological characteristic which is passed

from parents to offspring.
- GENE: a fragment of DNA which determines a hereditary trait.
- ALLELES: the variants of a gene which control the different expressions of a
particular trait.
- LOCUS: place occupied by a gene on a chromosome.
- HETEROZYGOUS ORGANISM: has different alleles for one gene (Aa, aA).
- HOMOZYGOUS ORGANISM: hast two identical alleles for one gene (AA, aa).
- DOMINANT ALLELE: is one that is always manifested in the phenotype (A).
- RECESSIVE ALLELE: is one that is only manifested when it is homozygous (a).
- GENOTYPE: the set of genes that an organism inherits from its parents (AA,Aa, aa)
- PHENOTYPE: the collection of traits in an organism. External appearance of the
genotype [brown eyes (AA,Aa) A] [blue eyes (aa) a]

2. MENDEL’S LAWS

- 1ª LAW OF DOMINANCE: “By crossing two purebread varieties, he generated

uniform in both genotype and phenotype”
- 2ª LAW SEGREGATION: All the alleles separate and are distributed independently
among the gametes.

- 3ª LAW OF INDEPENDENT ASSORTMENT: the alleles of a gene are transmitted

independently and combine randomly and in all the ways possible with other alleles
in the descendants.
3. INTERMEDIATE INHERITANCE

- The alleles are expressed equally in the phenotype. The resulting heterozygous or
hybrid organism displays a new trait which mixes information from the two parent
alleles.

4. CODOMINANCE

- Both dominant alleles are expressed together in the phenotype. The resulting
heterozygous organism displays the traits of both parents simultaneously but without
combining them.