2: Chromosomes, Mitosis, and Meiosis — Read

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2.1: DNA is Packaged into Chromatin
If stretched to its full length, the DNA molecule of the largest human chromosome would be 85mm. Yet during mitosis and meiosis, this DNA molecule is compacted into a chromosome approximately 5µm long. Although this compaction makes it easier to transport DNA within a dividing cell, it also makes DNA less accessible for other cellular functions such as DNA synthesis and transcription.
2.2: Mitosis
Cell growth and division is essential to asexual reproduction and the development of multicellular organisms. Accordingly, the primary function of mitosis is to ensure that at division each daughter cell inherits identical genetic material, i.e. exactly one copy of each chromosome.
2.3: Meiosis
Most eukaryotes replicate sexually - a cell from one individual joins with a cell from another to create the next generation. For this to be successful, the cells that fuse must contain half the number of chromosomes as in the adult organism. Otherwise, the number of chromosomes would double with each generation! The reduction in chromosome number is achieved by the process of meiosis.
2.4: The Cell Cycle and Changes in DNA Content
2.5: Karyotypes Describe Chromosome Number and Structure
2.6: Polyploidy Arises from Changes in Whole Sets of Chromosomes
2.7: Endoreduplication
2.8: Gene Balance
2.9: Organellar Genomes
2.E: Chromosomes, Mitosis, and Meiosis (Exercises)
2.S: Chromosomes, Mitosis, and Meiosis (Summary)

This page titled 2: Chromosomes, Mitosis, and Meiosis was last modified on Tue, 20 Jun 2023 04:33:06 GMT and is shared under a CC BY-SA 3.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Todd Nickle and Isabelle Barrette-Ng via source content that was edited to the style and standards of the LibreTexts platform.

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