Title: meiosis
Long Title: IUPAC Gold Book - meiosis
DOI: 10.1351/goldbook.M03818
Status: current

Definition
The reductive cell division which results in daughter cells containing one copy of each of the chromosome of the parent. The entire meiotic process involves two separate divisions (meiosis I and meiosis II). The first division is a true reductive division with the chromosome number being halved, whereas the second division resembles mitosis in many ways. Thus, a diploid parental cell will give rise to haploid daughter cells (cf. ploidy).

Related Terms
- chromosome: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/C01077
- mitosis: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/M03938
- ploidy: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/P04696

Source
- PAC, 1992, 64, 143. 'Glossary for chemists of terms used in biotechnology (IUPAC Recommendations 1992)' on page 159 (https://doi.org/10.1351/pac199264010143)

Other Outputs
- html: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/M03818/html
- json: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/M03818/json
- xml: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/M03818/xml

Citation: Citation: 'meiosis' in IUPAC Compendium of Chemical Terminology, 5th ed. International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry; 2025. Online version 5.0.0, 2025. 10.1351/goldbook.M03818
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Accessed: 2026-04-08T01:26:23+00:00