Meiosis is a special type of nuclear division which segregates one copy of each homologous chromosome into each new "gamete". Meiosis, also, reduces the number of sets of chromosomes by half, so that when gametic recombination (fertilization) occurs the ploidy of the parents will be reestablished. Sexual reproduction occurs only in eukaryotes. During the formation of gametes, the number of chromosomes is reduced by half, and returned to the full amount when the two gametes fuse during fertilization.
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