Cell division plays a very important role in the life cycle of a cell. Without cell division all living organisms would fail to reproduce, eventually dying out. Cell division involves two major steps: nuclear division and cytokinesis. Nuclear division is broken into two different types: mitosis and meiosis. Mitosis and meiosis are similar processes in that they both result in the separation of existing cells into new ones. They differ, however, in their specific processes as well as in their products. The reason for these differences lies in the difference in the class of cells that each process creates. Mitosis is the process in which a parent cell splits into two daughter cells that are exactly alike. While meiosis, known as reduction division, produces daughter cells with half the information contained in the parent cell. Mitosis can occur in either haploid or diploid cells, whereas meiosis occurs only in cells with the diploid or polypoid number of chromosomes. Another difference between the two is that during meiosis each diploid nucleus divides twice, producing a total of four nuclei, while in mitosis each nucleus divides only once producing only two nuclei. In meiosis, sex cells (gametes) are produced, while during mitosis body (somatic) cells are produced. This further shows that during mitosis daughter cells are genetically identical to the parent cell, while in meiosis daughter cells have one-half of the genes from the parent cell giving each cell diversity. Mitosis is required for the growth and development of organisms and for the replacement of existing cells, while in meiosis cells are mainly used for sexual reproduction.
             In the first step of Mitosis, Prophase, condensation of chromosomes and the disassembly of the nuclear envelope occurs. The first step in Meiosis I is known as Prophase I, because of there being two stages in Meiosis. Crossing over and synapsis occur in this phase. Synapsis is the process where homo...