Discussion and Reply to a Statment

“Cells and Cancer and Mitosis and Meiosis”

Note: Online students, please respond to one of the following three bulleted items.

• Listen to one of the following podcasts listed below:

o NPR Podcast: Can healthy eating reverse some cancers? Available here.
o Dana Farber Podcast: Sugar and Cancer. Available here.
o Briefly summarize the podcast you have selected then discuss whether or not you believe that dieting can reverse cancer or if dieting impacts your risk of cancer. Justify your response.

• Name two similarities and two differences between mitosis and meiosis I and II. Next state three benefits of genetic variation which result from meiosis. Which benefit do you believe is most significant? Justify your response.

• Read the Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology article entitled, “Mitosis at a Glance” which is found here. Next summarize three major points made in the article then define the term cancer in your own words. Lastly, describe what occurs when there are problems during mitosis then provide an example of a disease that results from abnormal mitosis.

Article website

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4211232/

REPLY TO THIS STATMENT

First, mitosis and meiosis are all forms of cell division. They both occur preceded by one round DNA replication. On the other hand, meiosis only exhibits two nuclear divisions which beget four daughter cells which are genetically distinct. Mitosis division however is diploid and identical to the mother cell. Another difference is where the pairing of homologs occurs in meiosis but is absent in mitosis. Meiosis exhibits genetic diversity through sexual reproduction where the other does cellular reproduction.

Meiosis genetic variations come with various advantages. First there is the aspect of adaptation brought about by changing environment. Inheritance is important, and it is an aspect brought about by meiosis division. Final, there is diversity in genes, this enables unique genome to be identified and used in special cases such as breeding. Among the three, the concept of inheritance proves to be the most important, as it is vital to survival. (Maton, 1997).