Meiosis

Learning Objectives
By the end of this lecture, you should be able to:
• Understand the concepts of chromosomes, genes, and alleles
• Recall and describe the steps of meiosis
• Describe how meiosis increases genetic diversity
• Compare meiosis to mitosis
• Recall what types of mistakes occur during meiosis
• Describe how meiosis provides evolutionary advantages
 Chromosomes and Genes
Homologous Chromosomes that are the same size and shape
chromosomes

Gene for eye color Gene for eye color

(allele for red eyes) (allele for purple eyes)

Drosophila autosome 2

Autosomes- not associated with sex determination; Sex chromsomes- determine an organism’s sex
Chromosomes and Genes

Two homologs of each chromosome = diploids diploids = 2n

The letter n stands for the number of

distinct chromosomes

haploid number

One of each type of chromosome = haploids haploids = n

Chromosomes and Genes

How many n would this be?

Chromosomes and Genes

Maternal Paternal

One copy from each parent

 4 4

3 2 3 2

Y X X X

Male Female

What is the ploidy of this organism?

How many autosomes are there?
How many sex chromosomes?
 Meiosis overview
Unreplicated Unreplicated
• Meiosis- one round of DNA maternal paternal
replication followed by two chromosome chromosome
rounds of cellular division Nuclear envelope
Replication

both unreplicated and replicated Replicated Replicated

maternal paternal
chromosomes are single chromosomes
chromosome chromosome
Sister chromatids
Sister chromatids are exact copies
Homologous pair of
Remember, a chromosome must have replicated chromosomes
unique information!
 Meiosis overview Parent cell is
diploid (2n)

MEIOSIS I
and contains
a homologous
• Meiosis- one round of DNA pair of
replication followed by two replicated
chromosomes
rounds of cellular division Homologs
separate Daughter
cells are
Two back-to-back divisions called haploid
(n) and

MEIOSIS II
Meiosis I and Meiosis II Sister contain
chromatids just one
separate homolog
Meiosis II division is the same
as in Mitosis

Meiosis I is reductional division-

it reduces the number of chromosomes Four daughter cells contain one unreplicated chromosome each (n).
In animals, these cells can develop into gametes.
Fertilization completes the life cycle

Diploid Haploid
adult gametes (n)
Egg
(2n)
Fertilization completes the life cycle
Diploid (2n) MEIOSIS
Haploid (n)

Number of chromosomes
reduced by half (2n → n)

Diploid Haploid
adult gametes (n)
Egg
(2n)
Fertilization completes the life cycle
Diploid (2n) MEIOSIS
Haploid (n)

Number of chromosomes
reduced by half (2n → n)

Diploid Haploid
adult gametes (n)
Sperm Egg
(2n)
Diploid number
of chromosomes
restored
(n + n → 2n)

Zygote
(2n)
Fertilization completes the life cycle
Diploid (2n) MEIOSIS
Haploid (n)

Number of chromosomes
reduced by half (2n → n)

Diploid Haploid
adult gametes (n)
Sperm Egg
(2n)
Diploid number
of chromosomes
restored
(n + n → 2n)

Zygote
(2n)
Fertilization completes the life cycle

Female Male
gamete gamete
(egg) (sperm)
(n) Fertilization (n)

Diploid offspring
contains homologous
pair of chromosomes

Zygote (2n)
 Meiosis I Replicated
chromosomes
Bivalent (4 chromatids from
2 homologous chromosomes)
Nuclear Non-sister Spindle
envelope chromatids apparatus Chiasma

All of the events

that are unique to
meiosis occur 2n
In this example, Maternal chromosomes
n = 3 so 2n = 6 Paternal chromosomes
during meiosis I

1. Interphase: 2. Early prophase I 3. Late prophase I 4. Metaphase I 5. Anaphase I

Uncondensed
chromosomes
replicate in
parent cell.
Interphase Nuclear
Replicated
chromosomes
envelope

• pre-meiotic S-phase
• chromosomes replicate

1. Interphase: Uncondensed
chromosomes replicate in parent cell.
 Bivalent (4 chromatids from
Prophase I Non-sister
2 homologous chromosomes)
Spindle
Chiasma

chromatids apparatus

• Homologs come • Chromosomes separate,

together but stay stuck at
• synapsis Chiasma
• unique to MI • at least one on every
• Involves breaking pair of homologs Maternal chromosomes
2n
• Allows crossing over Paternal chromosomes
and connecting In this example,
n = 3 so 2n = 6
together DNA

2. Early prophase I
3. Late prophase I
 Bivalent (4 chromatids from
Prophase I Non-sister
2 homologous chromosomes)
Spindle
Chiasma

chromatids apparatus

• Homologs come • Chromosomes separate,

together but stay stuck at
• synapsis Chiasma
• unique to MI • at least one on every
• Involves breaking pair of homologs Maternal chromosomes
2n
• Allows crossing over Paternal chromosomes
and connecting In this example,
n = 3 so 2n = 6
together DNA

2. Early prophase I
3. Late prophase I
 Bivalent (4 chromatids from
Prophase I Non-sister
2 homologous chromosomes)
Spindle
Chiasma

chromatids apparatus

• Homologs come • Chromosomes separate,

together but stay stuck at
• synapsis Chiasma
• unique to MI • at least one on every
• Involves breaking pair of homologs Maternal chromosomes
2n
• Allows crossing over Paternal chromosomes
and connecting In this example,
n = 3 so 2n = 6
together DNA

2. Early prophase I
3. Late prophase I
 Bivalent (4 chromatids from
Prophase I Non-sister
2 homologous chromosomes)
Spindle
Chiasma

chromatids apparatus

• Homologs come • Chromosomes separate,

together but stay stuck at
• synapsis Chiasma
• unique to MI • at least one on every
• Involves breaking pair of homologs Maternal chromosomes
2n
• Allows crossing over Paternal chromosomes
and connecting In this example,
n = 3 so 2n = 6
together DNA

2. Early prophase I
3. Late prophase I
 Prophase I
Bivalent Crossover between
non-sister chromatids

Chiasma Chiasma End result: The sister

Cohesin
proteins
Kinetochore chromatids
microtubule
are no longer identical
Kinetochores
different than mitosis=
Homologs exact copy of parent cell
Synaptonemal
Sister chromatids complex
contributes to
1. Condensation 2. Synapsis (bivalent 3. Crossing over 4. Partial separation
formation) and chiasma of homologs genetic variation
formation
Metaphase I
• Kinetochore microtubules move bivalent pairs to
metaphase plate
• imaginary line in the middle
• Each bivalent straddles the metaphase plate with
one homolog on each side
• the alignment of each bivalent is independent of
other bivalents
• Critical for concepts of Mendelian inheritance!

4. Metaphase I
Anaphase I and Telophase I Sister
chromatids

• Sister chromatids remain n

together
• Cytokinesis results in
reduction of chromosome
numbers n
• go from two replicated
chromosomes in each cell to
one replicated chromosome

5. Anaphase I 6. Telophase I
Meiosis I
• Results in daughter cells that have only one
chromosome of each homologous pair
• Daughter cells are haploid; only one copy of each type n
of chromosome
• Still contain replicated chromosomes
• Chromosomes in each cell are a random assortment of
maternal and paternal chromosomes due to: n
1. Crossing over
2. Random distribution of maternal and paternal
 MEIOSIS II Sister chromatids separate

7. Prophase II 8. Metaphase II 9. Anaphase II 10. Telophase II

and Cytokinesis
 Mitosis v. MITOSIS MEIOSIS

Meiosis 2n Diploid parent cell 2n Diploid parent cell

Chromosome replication Chromosome replication

Prophase I
Prophase
2n 2n

Major differences
1. Homolog pairing in meiosis
2. Crossing over 2n
Metaphase
2n
Metaphase I

Anaphase and Telophase

What would happen if an
organism with 3n went 2n n
Anaphase I and Telophase I

through mitosis? Two diploid daughter Meiosis II

meiosis? cells of mitosis

Four haploid daughter cells of meiosis

Meiosis increases genetic diversity
• Due to 1) crossing over and 2) shuffling of maternal and paternal
chromosomes:
• The chromosomes in one gamete are different from the chromosomes in
every other gamete
• Chromosomes in gametes are also different than the parent cell
• Fertilization results in a diploid cell that is genetically unique compared to
either parent cell
• Random combination of genetic material from each parent
Meiosis increases genetic diversity
• Asexual reproduction- any mechanism of producing offspring that
does not involve gametes
• Resulting daughters are genetically identical to mothers
• Sexual reproduction- production of offspring by mating and fusion of
gametes
• Offspring are genetically distinct from parent cells
Chromosomes and Heredity

• Each cell in your body (a) Example: An individual has different alleles of two genes
contains 23 pairs of implicated in two genetically transmitted diseases.
homologous chromosomes
• 46 chromosomes in total
Normal Sickle cell
• Half from your mother, half allele allele
from your father
• Each chromosome contains Cystic Normal
genes fibrosis allele
allele
• Differences in genes are
called alleles Hb-β gene CFTR gene
on chromosome 11 on chromosome 7
 Chromosomes and Heredity
• Due to Meiosis I, each gene will (b) before
During meoisis I, bivalents can line up in two different ways
the homologs separate.
sort independently- law of
independent assortment
• Resulting gametes will have OR
different combinations of each
allele
• New combinations of alleles are
called genetic recombination
• Organisms can produce 2n genetic
combinations in gametes
• ~8.4 million different gametes in
humans!! Normal Hb Sickle cell disease Sickle cell disease Normal Hb
Cystic fibrosis Normal CFTR Cystic fibrosis Normal CFTR
Crossing Over
• Produces new combinations of alleles within a chromosome
• Combined with independent assortment, this leads to an incredible
amount of genetic diversity
Fertilization
• Since each gamete has a random assortment of gene alleles,
fertilization can result in distinct combinations
• Even in self-fertilization, the offspring are genetically distinct from the
parents
• common in plants and some animals
• Outcrossing- when gametes from one individual combine with
another
• more common and results in even more diversity
• In humans, you could have 70.6 x 1012 different genetically distinct offspring,
even without crossing over
• more than the total number of people that have ever lived!!
 Mistakes during Meiosis

• Mistakes are common during

meiosis
• estimated that 1/3 of conceptions are
spontaneously terminated due to
issues
• Down syndrome is caused by
trisomy of chromosome 21
Mistakes during Meiosis
• How do mistakes happen?
• For each gamete to get one complete set of chromosomes, two steps
must be perfectly executed
1. Homologous pairs must be separated during the first meiotic division such
that only one homolog ends up in each daughter cell
2. Sister chromatids must separate from each other during meiosis II
• Nondisjunction is when the sister chromatids do not separate,
resulting in aneuploidy
• Aneuploidy- one cell has the incorrect number of chromosomes after meiosis
and fertilization
 n+1
Homologs fail
to separate
n+1

n–1

2n = 4
n =2 n–1

1. Meiosis I starts 2. Nondisjunction 3. Sister chromatids 4. Aneuploidy results.

normally. Bivalents line occurs with one set separate normally in All gametes have too many or
up in middle of cell. of homologs. meiosis II. too few chromosomes.

Nondisjunction results in aneuploidy

too many or too few chromosomes
 Why does Down syndrome 1
incidence increase in older 10

Incidence of Down syndrome

mothers?

per number of births

WHY?? 1
15
Primary oocytes enter
meiosis I during female 1
embryonic development 25
1
Arrest in prophase I until 40
1 1
sexual maturity 1 70
900 1 1
1 1 100
One egg completes meiosis 300 200
720 450
each month
some eggs must wait 50 years!
Age of mother (years)
 Nondisjunction in oocytes Chiasma

n+1
Homologs fail
to separate
n+1 Maternal chromosomes
Paternal chromosomes

n–1

2n = 4
n =2 n–1

1. Meiosis I starts 2. Nondisjunction 3. Sister chromatids 4. Aneuploidy results.

normally. Bivalents line occurs with one set separate normally in All gametes have too many or
up in middle of cell. of homologs. meiosis II. too few chromosomes.

3. Late prophase I
Nondisjunction in oocytes
Why Meiosis?
• The Paradox of sexual reproduction
• Need one member of each sex to produce progeny
• Only females can produce progeny
• Results in less individuals over time
Asexual reproduction Sexual reproduction
Generation 1

There are only half as many

child-producing offspring in
the sexual population as in
the asexual population
Generation 2

Generation 3
Why Meiosis?
• If a mutation happens in a gene that causes it to function poorly, then
• Asexual reproduction- all individuals would inherit this gene
• Sexual reproduction- your mate may have a normal copy, negating this
deleterious effect
• Purifying selection
• If the environment changes, then
• Asexual reproduction- genetic clones might not adapt to these changes
• Sexual reproduction- allows offspring to escape the genetically deadly
scenario