 So now that we've gone through the process of mitosis and the process of meiosis, we're going to look at how they stack up against each other. So for the introduction of both, we talked about reproduction, how it's a characteristic of life and how it's often thought of on a macro scale and a micro scale. The first comparison between the two is that meiosis is responsible for macro scale reproduction, where offspring comes from the process of sexual reproduction. So people beget more people. This is really necessary when it comes to propagation of the species for creating future generations and allowing genetic variability within those generations. On the micro scale, mitosis is responsible for these processes, where cells divide to make more cells and these cells are genetically identical. It happens at an exponential rate and it's necessary when you talk about things like growth, not only increase in size, but growth of tissue, wound repair, and asexual reproduction. Another comparison between the two is that they both start off in interphase. They go through the same G1, S, and G2 phases that comprise interphase. During the S phase, there is duplication of DNA, so duplication of all of that chromatin from 2N to 4N. Mitosis is going to follow this 4N duplication with one cell division, meaning that 4N will be divided up into two daughter cells that will both be 2N in nature or diploid. Meiosis is going to follow this duplication with two consecutive divisions, meaning that the 4N cell that's created during interphase will undergo two divisions that results in four haploid cells. So you can follow the math 2 plus 2, 4, 1, 1, 1, all the way across four. Now both of these methods of reproduction are going to be necessary for propagation of the species and species survival. Mitosis is the avenue that supports life. It's going to be evident in daily activities like growth and wound repair. This is considered to be a conservative division. It's a conservative division because one diploid cell yields two identical diploid daughter cells. So you're conserving the number of chromosomes you have, not only the number of chromosomes, but also their layout, their organization, their genetic makeup. Mitosis is going to give us the avenue that allows our species to propagate from generation to generation by producing offspring. It also provides for evolution with the genetic variability and crossover effects that happen in prophase 1. This is where one diploid cell is going to yield four genetically varying haploid daughter cells. So this is considered to be a reductive division where 4N is going to be broken down and split up among four daughter cells. So the next comparison we have between mitosis and meiosis is that the order of the phases that they occur is the same. If you remember back, we have please make another try or I pass my anatomy test. Same order happens here. With mitosis you have PMAT, meiosis 1, PMAT, meiosis 2, PMAT. So it's the same order. Once you learn the order, it's going to be carried on through for the rest of cell divisions. The only difference is that with meiosis, there are two consecutive cell divisions versus with mitosis there are only one. So with meiosis, these two divisions have an extra notation that follows them as one or two so that you know what is happening in which stage. So next, the starting product of mitosis is the same as meiosis 2 but not as meiosis 1. Meiosis 2 and mitosis are going to be very similar processes. They're almost identical. However, the ending products for those will be different. With meiosis 1, it starts off with a tetrad of chromosomes. A tetrad is going to be one pair of homologous chromosomes, those two X's that we saw drawn previously. So meiosis 1 starts off with the tetrad, meiosis 2 and mitosis both start off with one chromosome which is composed of two sister chromatids attached by a central centromere. During anaphase of mitosis, the sister chromatids are going to split apart so they're pulled apart from that centromere and one sister chromatid will head to each pole. This is the same event that happens in anaphase 2 of meiosis 2. However, meiosis 1 remember was different. During meiosis 1 in anaphase, the tetrad will separate and a homologous chromosome will be pulled to either pole. So while you can see that mitosis and meiosis 2 are very similar, the ending products for all three are going to be different. For mitosis, the ending product is one starting diploid cell, two genetically identical daughter cells. With meiosis 1, you start off with one a diploid cell and you're going to end up with two genetically varying diploid cells. Those diploid cells then begin meiosis 2 and are carried on to form four genetically varying haploid cells. I hope that this really clears up some of the confusion that goes along with understanding mitosis and meiosis other than the fact that their names sound so similar. So I hope that you can go through now and create your own chart. Start off with detailing the differences between the two processes to really show how proficient you are with this topic. Best of luck. Thank you.