During meiosis, why are there so many possible genetic variations in each individual sperm or egg that is produced?
crossing over
independent assortment
both crossing over and independent assortment
mutations
Both Crossing over and independent assortment contributes to a large number of genetic variations.
Independent assortment is the process by which the homologous pairs of chromosomes from both paternal and maternal origin tend to randomly arrange themselves in during meiosis. By this random assortment there is a huge variation in genes of the daughter cells.
Crossing over occurs between two homologous pairs of chromosomes that are independently assorted. By this mechanism several genes are shuffled between non-sister chromatids. Thus crossover causes accumulation of different alleles in homologous chromosomes.
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