Organisms with complex cells containing a nucleus and organelles, undergoing sexual life cycles involving meiosis, gamete formation, fertilization, and mitosis for genetic diversity.
Sexual Life Cycles
A process in eukaryotes involving meiosis, gamete formation, fertilization, and mitosis to create genetically diverse offspring.
Response: Genetic Diversity
Variation in genetic makeup among individuals within a population, resulting from the combination of genes during sexual reproduction, including processes like meiosis and fertilization.
Genes
Units of heredity made of DNA that determine specific traits by coding for proteins, passed from parents to offspring during sexual reproduction, ensuring genetic diversity.
Cell Division
The process by which a single cell divides to form two or more daughter cells, essential for growth, reproduction, and genetic diversity in eukaryotic organisms.
Meiosis
A specialized cell division process that reduces chromosome number by half, producing genetically diverse gametes (sperm and egg) essential for sexual reproduction in eukaryotic organisms.
Gametes
Haploid cells produced by meiosis, essential for sexual reproduction, that combine during fertilization to form a diploid zygote, ensuring genetic diversity.
Egg
A female gamete produced via meiosis, essential for sexual reproduction, which combines with a sperm to form a zygote, initiating the development of a new organism.
Sperm
A male gamete produced via meiosis, essential for fertilization, combining with a female gamete to form a zygote, initiating a new organism's development.
Zygote
The initial cell formed when two gametes unite during fertilization, containing a complete set of chromosomes from both parents, and will undergo mitosis to develop into a new organism.
Mitosis
A process of cell division in eukaryotes where a single cell divides to produce two genetically identical daughter cells, crucial for growth, development, and tissue repair.
Organism
A living entity capable of growth, reproduction, and maintaining homeostasis, often through complex processes like meiosis and mitosis, resulting in genetic diversity and continuation of its species.
Gamete Formation
The process in which meiosis produces haploid cells (sperm and egg) that combine during fertilization to form a genetically unique zygote.
Fertilization
The union of haploid gametes (egg and sperm) to form a diploid zygote, initiating the development of a new organism.