Significance Differences between Mitosis and Meiosis Order Instructions: Please read below for information concerning assignment. Support responses with examples and use APA formatting in the paper. You may access the school’s website by logging into:
https://mycampus.southuniversity.edu/portal/server.pt Please note that when you log into the website you must click launch class, and on the next screen click syllabus to view this week’s readings (week 4) and Academic Resources to access the school’s library.
There are two discussion questions for this assignment, please answer as thoroughly as possible. I’ve also included “Hints from the Doc” below each question.
Question 1: Significance of differences between mitosis and meiosis
Mitosis and meiosis are the two major processes by which eukaryotic cells reproduce. Compare and contrast the processes of mitosis and meiosis. Consider the stages involved in each and their eventual products. How are the differences biologically significant relative to growth and reproduction? Be prepared to discuss how life is dependent upon both types of cellular reproduction.
HINTS FROM THE DOC
You guessed it. Short answers are the big killer, again. Be sure you describe what goes on during the specific stages of mitosis and meiosis, point out the number of chromosomes passed on to daughter cells, and explain how this difference in division types supports growth and sexual reproduction. Be sure to point out where crossing over and reduction division happens in meiosis and explain what these two processes do to enhance the variability of offspring in sexual reproduction.
Here are several resources to help you with this discussion. The animations and simulations should help you understand the two processes especially if you are a visual learner.
Cell Cycle and Mitosis Tutorial
http://www.biology.arizona.edu/cell_bio/tutorials/cell_cycle/cells3.html
Mitosis Animation
Meiosis Tutorial
http://www.biology.arizona.edu/cell_bio/tutorials/meiosis/main.html
Meiosis Animation
Difference Between Mitosis and Meiosis
Mitosis and Meiosis Simulation Using Bead Models
Question 2: Mendel’s Principles
Mendel used mathematics and experimentation to derive major principles that have helped us understand inheritance. His ideas were totally different than the explanation for passage of characteristics from parents to offspring that was common to his time. List and describe his principles and describe how each contributes to genetic variability. How might biology have been different if his discoveries had not been lost for decades? Be prepared to discuss the significance of Mendel’s discoveries to modern biology.
HINTS FROM THE DOC
Be sure to clearly explain the principles of segregation and independent assortment and how dominant and recessive genes interact to result in the gene expression that results. This is a place where student often demonstrates an incorrect understanding, especially in thinking that dominant genes are more common and recessive, are rarer.
The big place where most students lose points has to do with the last part of the assignment. I think some students don’t read the assignment clearly (or invent their own assignment). Mendel’s ideas were lost to science for about 30 years until rediscovered by several scientists and traced back to his original work. You need to think about how genetics is tied into so many aspects of modern life, then think through how much farther along we might be in a variety of fields if his work had not been lost. Give us a thoughtful examination of this. Too often students either don’t answer this part at all or go off on a tangent about what Mendel has contributed to modern science and life without considering the question that is asked.
Again, avoid the short answer monster.
Here are a variety of sources to help you with this one. Mendel was a really interesting individual and on his own basically created the science we call genetics. He was also one of the first individuals to apply mathematics to biology.
Overview of Mendel’s Genetic Ideas
http://anthro.palomar.edu/mendel/mendel_1.htm
Brief Review of Mendel’s Laws
http://www.dnalc.org/view/16151-Biography-1-Gregor-Mendel-1822-1884-.html
Importance of Gregor Mendel
http://www.livescience.com/7537-monk-peas-changed-world.html
Rediscovery of Mendel’s Work
http://www.cs.uml.edu/~grinstei/91.510/Rediscovery%20of%20Mendel.pdf
Mendel’s Original Paper (translated into English)
http://www.esp.org/foundations/genetics/classical/gm-65.pdf
Significance Differences between Mitosis and Meiosis Sample Answer
Week 4 Assignment 1
Significance Differences between Mitosis and Meiosis
Mitosis and meiosis are both processes of cell division that take place in cells of organisms. Although the two processes are similar in many ways, they are actually very different in occurrence, purpose, steps, and production. The process of meiosis is subdivided into two stages: meiosis I (reductive division) and meiosis II. Each stage of meiosis has four phases of prophase, metaphase, anaphase, and telophase, whereas mitosis has only one section having the four stages. The four stages of mitosis are similar to those of meiosis II. Crossing-over is a feature of meiotic prophase I that is lacking in mitosis. Crossing-over can be defined as the genetic exchange of chromosomes between homolog chromatids in meiosis. This process functions to mix chromosomes and this explains why an offspring has chromosomes from both parents (Kimble, 2011; Okhura, 2015).
Mitosis and meiosis play different roles in living organisms. The main purpose of mitosis is growth and maintenance, whereas the primary purpose of meiosis is a reproduction. Mitosis takes place in simple organisms such as bacteria and protozoa as well as somatic cells of multicellular organisms, while meiosis occurs within the gamete cells. In bacteria and protozoa, mitosis serves to produce offspring in a process referred to as asexual reproduction. Mitosis in somatic cells helps to form new cells for the growth of multicellular organisms and replacement of damaged or worn-out cells. Meiosis produces gamete cells for sexual reproduction in plants and animals. However, unlike in mitosis where there is no genetic variability, meiosis provides genetic variability to the offspring to increase the probability of surviving in different environments. This variability is because of crossing-over in meiotic prophase I (Okhura, 2015).
Significance Differences between Mitosis and Meiosis and Mendel’s Laws of Inheritance
Gregor Mendel (1822-1884) was an Austrian monk with a special interest in understanding variability in plants. Based on his plant breeding experiments, he developed Mendel’s laws of inheritance: the law of segregation and the law of independent assortment (Mneimneh, 2012). Mendel’s principle of segregation states that a living organism has two genetic factors called alleles that determine each trait. Alleles separate during gamete formation in the reductive division and then recombine during fertilization. There are two types of alleles called dominant and recessive alleles. Dominant alleles show their phenotype even if the organism only has one copy of the allele. Recessive alleles show their phenotype when the organism has both copies of the allele. There are three possible gene combinations during gamete formation which include homozygous dominant (DD), heterozygous (Dd), and homozygous recessive (dd). Blood group AB is an example of codominance where the effect of two genes is shown. During gamete formation, each parent donates one allele to form monohybrid genes. However, dihybrid genes that have four alleles coding for one trait can also be inherited by the offspring (Mneimneh, 2012).
The Law of Independent Assortment was the second principle deduced by Mendel. He formulated this law after performing the dihybrid test crosses. The law states alleles (factors) for one trait are inherited independent of alleles (factors) of another trait and that all genetic combinations are possible. Independent assortment of genes occurs during the meiotic crossing-over and results in the formation of gametes with a mixture of alleles from each parent. However, both segregation and independent assortment apply to unlinked genes but not linked ones (Mneimneh, 2012; Singh, 2016).
Mendel’s work posed a challenge to Darwin’s theory of natural selection. Thus, because of Darwin’s influence, Mendel’s work was largely ignored and only came to be rediscovered thirty-five years later. If this could not have happened, Darwinism could not have triumphed and most probably an evolutionary way of thinking could have been stopped. In addition, genetics and molecular biology could have emerged much earlier than it was actually the case.
Significance Differences between Mitosis and Meiosis References
Kimble, J. (2011). Molecular regulation of the Mitosis/Meiosis Decision in Multicellular organisms. Cold Spring Harb Biol, 3, a002683. doi: 10.1101cshperspect.a002683
Mneimneh, S. (2012). Crossing Over…Markov Meets Mendel. Plos Comput Biol, 8(5), e1002462. doi: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1002462
Okhura, H. (2015). Meiosis: An Overview of Key Differences from Mitosis. Cold Spring Harb Biol. doi: 10.1101/cshperspect.a015859
Singh, R. S. (2016). Science beyond boundary: are premature discoveries things of the past. Genome, 59, 433-437.
