Why is meiosis important for sexual reproduction?
A. It allows the zygote formed from fertilization to have triple the chromosome number of the organism.
B. It allows gametes to have twice the original number of chromosomes of the organism.
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c. It allows gametes to have half the original number of chromosomes of the organism.
D. It allows the zygote formed from fertilization to have half the original number of chromosomes of the organism.

Gametes are mature haploid cells, or sex cells. When gametes unite with others from the opposite sex in the form of fertilization they create a zygote which then forms an embryo etc. At the end of meiosis the gametes only have half the chromosomes of the organism (only one copy of DNA)

C. It allows gametes to have half the original number of chromosomes of the organism.

interphase

the period of cell growth when the cell synthesizes new molecules and organelles. the cell is not dividing and it constitutes the majority of the time spent in the cell cycle

prophase

changes occur in the nucleus and cytoplasm. the chromatin condenses to form structures (sister chromatids) visible with a light microscope and the mitotic spindle begins to form, but the nucleus is still in tact

prometaphase

the nuclear envelope fragments and the spindle microtubules attach to the kinetochores of the sister chromatids

metaphase

all the cell's duplicated chromosomes are lined up at an imaginary plane equidistant between the poles of the mitotic spindle

anaphase

begins when sister chromatids separate from each other and ending when a complete set of daughter chromosomes arrives at each of the two poles of the cell

telophase

the daughter nuclei form at the two poles of a cell

cytokinesis

the division of a cytoplasm to form two separate daughter cells. usually occurs during telophase during mitosis. this and mitosis make up to mitotic (m) phase of the cell cycle

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