Explain the mechanism of meiosis.

Meiosis is a specific type of cell division. Unlike mitosis, which results in 2 identical copies of the mother cell, meiosis creates 4 daughter cells each containing half of a normal gentic material (we refer to this as haploid).

So you start off with a normal cell, it is diploid so has 2 sets of chromosomes, so 2 verisons of each gene. It has ducplicated it's genetic material which means each chromosome has 2 identical chromatids. It is important to understand the fact taht there are pairs of double chromosomes and not be confused by this.

Meiosis involves 2 subphases, which are a bit like 2 mitoses following each other. The first division separates the pairs of chromosomes, the second division separates the sister chromatids of each chromosome. 

So knowing that mitosis has 4 phases which are ....(student will say PMAT), so meiosis has 2x 4 phases. But  the first T phase and the second P phase are often seen as one, so we commonly say meiosis has 7 phases. 

Can explain more about the 7 phases if needed. 

Can explain more about abnormalities of meiosis if needed.