f every kind. They was a round yellow, round green, wrinkled yellow and wrinkled green pea. This formed Mendels second law: the law of independent assortment. This law states that genes for different traits and inherited independently of each other (Biggs, 256-266) Meiosis is the process by which haploid gametes are formed. Haploid means half the diploid number of chromosomes. The diploid number is the number of chromosomes found in each cell of an organisms body. Gametes must be haploid number or else the organism would be born with twice as many chromosomes. If that happened something bad would happen, probably a mutation. Homologous chromosomes are the pair of chromosomes that shape an organisms appearance. They are in no way the same, but must share the same characteristicsWhen cells divide by fission (mitosis) the new cells have the same number as the first cell. If this happened with meiosis, we would have twice as many chromosomes as our parents. Meiosis only occurs in the specialized reproductive cells of each parent. Meiosis consists of two separate divisions, known as meiosis I and meiosis II. Meiosis I begins with one normaly a centromere. During prophase I the chromosomes coil up and the spindle forms. But then each pair of homologous comes together, forming a four part structure called a tetrad. A tetrad is made of two homologous chromosomes, which are each made up of two sister chromatids. During this phase, crossing over, also known as genetic recombination occurs. When this happens, genetic material is exchanged between chromosomes. Kind of like switching the same shape piece to a different puzzle. As metaphase I begins, the centromere of each sister chromatid attaches to a spindle fiber. The spindle fibers pull the chromatids to the center of the spindle, and the homologous chromosomes line up side by side as tetrads. (Biggs, 275)Anaphase I begins with the homologous chromosomes separate and are pulled to opposi...
