Instructions:

Title page 65 of your notebook, “Mitosis & Meiosis.”

Copy the following questions on page 65. Leave room to answer them.
1) What are two characteristics of life?
2) What is mitosis?
3) List four types of cells that undergo mitosis.
4) What types of cells do not undergo mitosis?
5) What is the most important thing to know about mitosis?
6) What would happen to your body’s cells if mitosis did not occur?
7) What is a zygote?
8) Why is mitosis important for zygotes?
9) How is meiosis different than mitosis?
10) What is a gamete?
11) Why is it important that meiosis results in new cells with half
the chromosomes?

*Draw the three diagrams from the reading into your notebook.
 Mitosis & Meiosis
One of the requirements for living things is that they must be made of cells.
Another characteristic is that all living things must experience growth. So, how
exactly do living things grow? How do babies grow up to be adults? The answer
lies in the cellular process of mitosis.
Mitosis is the process by which eukaryotic cells divide. You should remember
from our study on cells that a eukaryotic cell contains a nucleus. Most of your
cells are eukaryotic, so most of your cells –skin cells, lung cells, and stomach cells -
-- undergo mitosis. Mitosis does not occur in prokaryotic organisms like bacteria,
nor does it occur in some of your cells (but more on that later.)
The most important thing to know about mitosis is that it results in new cells that
have the same number of chromosomes as the old cells. So, this is a form of
asexual reproduction. For one-celled organisms like amoeba, paramecia, and
euglena, this causes the offspring to be exact clones of the parents. In humans,
this results in new cells that replace old ones. Without mitosis, your old cells
would die and your body would wear out. But the new cells – with the same
number of chromosomes – take over the job of their parents.

A basic representation of
mitosis:

Mitosis is also what causes babies to grow. After a sperm fertilizes an egg, a
zygote is formed. This zygote is only one-cell, and it undergoes mitosis repeatedly
until it develops into a baby made of trillions of cells. The same process happens
in humans to change their height and girth as they age.

Meiosis
You read earlier that some cells in humans do not undergo mitosis. Two
particular cells that reproduce through another method are sperm cells and egg
cells, also called gametes. Instead of mitosis, gametes reproduce through a
process called meiosis.
While mitosis results in new cells with the same number of chromosomes, meiosis
causes new cells to have half the number of chromosomes. In humans, sperm
cells and egg cells both have 23 chromosomes. When fertilization occurs the
zygote will have 46 chromosomes. Once the zygote has formed, mitosis begins
and the new cells will all have 46 chromosomes.

Mitosis and meiosis are both crucial to life. Without meiosis, organisms would
not be able to reproduce effectively. If organisms did not undergo mitosis, then
they would not be able to grow and replace worn-out cells. They are two of the
most important cellular process in existence.