DNA is the key hereditary information that must be successfully passed on with each generation of life. This is true even down to the level of a single cell that divides to become two new daughter cells. How does the DNA get reliablydistributed to each daughter cell?When it comes to us as humans, we each represent a mixture of DNA from our parents. How does our parental DNA become mixed?Answers to these questions are found in two major ways that cells reproduce: mitosis and meiosis. In mitosis. cells reproduce asexually and create two cells with identical genetic information. In meiosis, specific cells rearrange the DNA from the parents to produce gametes, or sex cells, that are used for sexual reproduction. The DNA content in the cells produced from meiosis is different from the starting cell.
