What are the types of cells in meiosis?

Answer 1

Meiotic divisions

The two meiotic divisions may be divided into a number of distinct stages. Meiotic prophase refers to the period after the last cycle of DNA replication, during which time homologous chromosomes pair and recombine. The end of prophase is signaled by the breakdown of the nuclear envelope, and the association of the paired chromosomes with the meiotic spindle. The spindle is made up of microtubules that, with associated motor proteins, mediate chromosome movement. In some cases (such as human sperm formation), the spindle is already formed at the point of nuclear envelope breakdown, and the chromosomes then attach to it. In other systems (such as human female meiosis), the chromosomes themselves organize the spindle.

Metaphase I is the period before the first division during which pairs of interlocked homologous chromosomes, called bivalents, line up on the middle of the meiotic spindle. The chromosomes are primarily (but not exclusively) attached to the spindle by their centromeres such that the centromere of one homolog is attached to spindle fibers emanating from one pole, and the centromere of its partner is attached to spindle fibers from the other pole (see illustration). The bivalents are physically held together by structures referred to as chiasmata that are the result of meiotic recombination events. In most meiotic systems, meiosis will not continue until all of the homolog pairs are properly oriented at the middle of the spindle, the metaphase plate. The orientation of each pair of homologs on the spindle occurs in a random fashion, such that the paternally derived homolog of one bivalent may point toward one pole of the spindle, while in the adjacent bivalent the maternally derived homolog is oriented toward the same pole.

Answer 2

Reproductive (sex) cells are involved in meiosis, while body cells are involved in mitosis.