What is meiosis II?

Meiosis II is the second division of the meiotic process, occurring after meiosis I. This stage is crucial as it is responsible for separating the sister chromatids, which are the duplicated chromosomes that were formed during DNA replication prior to meiosis I.

During meiosis II, the two haploid cells produced in meiosis I undergo another division without further replication of the genetic material. Each of the sister chromatids is pulled apart into two separate cells, resulting in a total of four haploid gametes from the original diploid cell. This is vital for sexual reproduction, as it ensures that the resulting gametes contain only half the number of chromosomes, which is essential for maintaining the correct chromosome number in offspring upon fertilization.

This separation of sister chromatids is similar to what occurs in mitosis but is distinctive in that meiosis II occurs in a haploid cell and contributes to genetic diversity through recombination events that happened in meiosis I.