Which of the following correctly describes how the daughter cells produced during mitosis and meiosis compare to their parent cell?

a. meiosis produces four cells with half the number of chromosomes as the parent cell, whereas mitosis produces two cells with the same number of chromosomes as the parent cell.

b. meiosis produces two cells with half the number of chromosomes as the parent cell, whereas mitosis produces four cells with the same number of chromosomes as the parent cell.

c. meiosis produces four cells with twice the number of chromosomes as the parent cell, whereas mitosis produces two cells with half the number of chromosomes as the parent cell.

d. meiosis produces two cells with twice the number of chromosomes as the parent cell, whereas mitosis produces four cells with half the number of chromosomes as the parent cell.

A. Meiosis produces four cells with half the number of chromosomes as the parent cell, whereas mitosis produces two cells with the same number of chromosomes as the parent cell.

Explanation:

Cells of living organisms undego division. The division can either be mitosis or meiosis. Mitosis is a kind of division that results in two daughter cells that are identical to the parent cell. The daughter cells are identical in the sense that they contain the same number of chromosomes as the parent cell i.e. a diploid cell undergoes mitosis to produce two diploid daughter cells, and also the same arrangement of alleles. Mitosis, also called multiplication division, is majorly used for growth and development of tissues.

Meiosis, on the other hand, results in four daughter cells that have their chromosomal number reduced by half as the parent cell. Meiosis is used only by sexually-reproducing organisms to produce gametes. Since a gamete needs to contain as half number of chromosomes as the parent organism, meiosis takes place in a two step division process viz: Meiosis I and II.

Meiosis I produces two daughter cells with their chromosome number reduced i.e. from diploid (2n) to haploid (n) while Meiosis II produces a total of four daughter cells with half number of chromosomes each.