Mitosis and meiosis are two different forms of reproduction in eukaryotic cells. These two processes are similar in some aspects while different in others. Both cause the creation of new cells, but through different methods. Mitosis is a type of asexual reproduction, while meiosis is a type of sexual reproduction. These two processes are vital for the survival of cells and organisms. Mitosis is defined as a process of nuclear division in eukaryotic cells in which two daughter cells are formed that are genetically identical to the parent cell. It preserves chromosome number by providing an equal amount of replicated chromosomes to each of the daughter nuclei. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get Original Essay The general purpose of mitosis is asexual reproduction, growth, and cell regeneration in somatic cells, or cells of the body. Mitosis is divided into five phases: prophase, prometaphase, metaphase, anaphase, and telophase. In prophase, tightly coiled chromatin condenses into chromosomes, the mitotic spindle begins to form, and the nucleolus disappears, while the nucleus remains intact. Prometaphase will then occur, in which fragments of the nuclear envelope and spindle microtubules attach to the kinetochores of the chromosomes. In metaphase, the mitotic spindle completes its formation and the chromosomes, attached to the microtubules of the kinetochores, will align on the metaphase plate. Anaphase consists of the separation of the chromatids of each chromosome and the movement of the daughter chromosomes towards opposite poles of the cell. The mitotic phase ends with telophase, where two daughter nuclei are formed. Cytokinesis typically overlaps with late telophase. Mitosis ends with the formation of two diploid daughter cells genetically identical to the parent cell. The genetic material in daughter cells remains constant, so there is no genetic variation that occurs during mitosis. On the other hand, meiosis is defined as a modified type of cell division in sexually reproducing organisms. It consists of two cycles of cell division but only one cycle of DNA replication. The cells end up with half the number of chromosomes of the original cell. The purpose of meiosis is to provide genetic diversity through sexual reproduction and to ensure that organisms that reproduce via sexual reproduction contain the correct number of chromosomes. Chromosome reduction occurs in eukaryotic cells, such as plants, animals, and fungi, and leads to the production of sex cells, or gametes. Without the reduction in chromosome number, the fusion of two gametes during fertilization would result in offspring with double the required number of chromosomes. Meiosis consists of two subdivisions - meiosis I and meiosis II - unlike the single phase of mitosis. Meiosis I focuses on the reduction of chromosomes, going from a diploid cell to a haploid cell, while meiosis II focuses on the separation of sister chromatids. Meiosis I begins with prophase I, which itself contains five phases: leptotene, zygotene, pachytene, diplotene, and diakinesis. This step consists of condensation of chromatin into chromosomes, breakdown of the nuclear envelope, synapsis of chromosomes in each homologous pair, and crossing over of the synapted chromosomes. Crossover produces recombinant chromosomes, which contain combined genes inherited from each parent. Metaphase I continues with the random alignment of tetrads on the metaphase plate, rather than on individual chromosomes, as in mitosis. Subsequently, in anaphase I, the homologous chromosome moves to opposite poles of the cell, while the sister chromatids of the chromosome.