What is Mitosis? Compare to Meiosis.

Mitosis is the division of diploid (full set of 46 chromosomes)  cells, to form two diploid daughter cells with an identical nature to their parent cells. This occurs throughout the body during cell replacement and tissue repair. Meiosis on the other hand only occurs in the reproductive organs in the production of gametes (haploid cells with a half set of chromosomes), eg sperm cells. A parent cell will divide twice in meiosis to produce 4 haploid daughter cells, unlike mitosis, these daughter cells are non-identical to the parent cell due to crossing-over of chromosomes during division.