Handel & Schimenti (2010): Meiosis Research Assignment

Meiosis
Student’s Name
Institution
Meiosis
According to Handel & Schimenti (2010), meiosis is an important phase in gamete formation among sexually reproducing organisms. It is the process through which sex cells are produced. The sex cells contain half the chromosomes’ number. Organisms that reproduce sexually including humans have two different kinds of cells. They include somatic cells, which consists of the common number of chromosomes referred to as diploid and the sex cells that contain half the amount of chromosomes known as haploid. The male sex cell is the sperm and that of a female is the ovum, which is released during ovulation to allow fertilization to take place. The joining of the sperm and ovum takes place in the fallopian tube leading to the formation of a zygote.
An organism with the diploid number of chromosomes has matching homologues whereby one homologue comes from the father and the other from the mother. However, most organisms are diploid. For instance, humans have a total of 46 chromosomes in each cell. According to Moore, Persaud, & Torchia (2011), humans have 23 sets of chromosomes. Additionally, homologous chromosomes contain genes, which control the matching inherited traits.
Handel & Schimeti (2010) note that mutations studies in human haplotype patterns and other model organisms have resulted in a clear understanding of the ways in which meiosis is connected to gametic success and how it has adapted to humans. Presently, there is a clear understanding of the genes that direct the dynamics of chromosomes during meiosis. During meiosis, haploid cells are formed from the reduction of diploid cells. Therefore, if meiosis does not occur, the number of chromosomes doubles and this can lead to the death of an offspring. Meiosis in males is known as spermatogenesis and oogenesis in females. It is often in two phases called meiosis I and meiosis II (Moore, Persaud, & Torchia, 2011).
According to Moore, Persaud, & Torchia (2011), meiosis I is the reduction division where the chromosomes number is trimmed down from diploid to haploid as a result of the combination of homologous chromosomes in prophase and their separation in anaphase. During anaphase, each pair returns to their meiotic spindle. Before meiosis I, in total, there are 46 chromosomes with two chromatids per chromosome. At the end of meosis I, there are 23 chromosomes due to the reduction division. The chromosomes have two chromatids each resulting in each cell having 46 chromatids. In meiosis II, 23 chromosomes split at their centromeres, which results in the chromatids from different chromosomes shif...