Compare and contrast mitosis and meiosis.

Mitosis involves a single round of nuclear division, whereas meiosis involves two rounds. They both include the same four phases: prophase, metaphase, anaphase, and telophase; meiosis involves two rounds of each phase. Both meiosis and mitosis are preceded by interphase, where DNA replication takes place. In meiosis, the homologous chromosomes line up to form tetrads early in prophase I. This event, which does not occur in mitosis, allows crossing over of homologous chromosomes to take place. Crossing over provides the genetic recombination of meiosis. The sister chromatids separate in anaphase in mitosis. In meiosis, the homologous (non-sister) chromatids separate during anaphase I, and the sister chromatids separate during anaphase II. The end result of mitosis is two diploid nuclei with identical chromosomes, whereas the final result of meiosis is the production of four haploid nuclei that are not genetically identical.