Question

meiosis is used in sexual reproduction, a process by which two individual organisms exchange or combine their genetic information. in humans, this is why a child looks like a combination of his or her parents.
in order for each parent to contribute half of the genome of the child, what has to happen?
each parent needs to produce a cell with two copies of their genome
each parent needs to produce a cell with half of the information of their own genome
each parent needs to produce a cell with a new genome
one parents cell needs to delete half of its genome

Explanation:

To determine the correct answer, we analyze the concept of meiosis in sexual reproduction. In sexual reproduction, each parent contributes half of the child's genome. This occurs because during meiosis, parents produce gametes (sperm or egg cells) that have half of their own genome.

• Option 1: Producing a cell with two copies of the genome would result in the child having double the normal genome, which is incorrect.
• Option 2: Producing a cell with half of their own genome (gametes) is correct, as when the sperm and egg (each with half the genome) fuse during fertilization, the resulting zygote has the full set of genetic information.
• Option 3: Producing a cell with a new genome is not accurate, as gametes carry a portion of the parent's genome, not a completely new one.
• Option 4: Deleting half of a parent's cell genome is not how meiosis works; meiosis is a specialized cell division that reduces the chromosome number by half in a regulated way, not by deletion.

Answer:

B. Each parent needs to produce a cell with half of the information of their own genome