Meiosis is best described as which?

• A. Mitosis with identical daughter cells
• B. DNA replication without division
• C. Cell division that reduces the number of the chromosomes in each daughter cell to half of what's in the parent cell, involves 2 divisions
• D. Random shuffling of genes only

Answer: (C)

Meiosis is a specialized cell division that halves the chromosome number to produce haploid gametes, and it occurs in two successive divisions after a single round of DNA replication. In the first division, homologous chromosomes pair and then segregate, reducing the chromosome number. In the second division, the sister chromatids separate, yielding four genetically diverse haploid cells. This process also generates variation through crossing over between homologous chromosomes and independent assortment of those chromosomes during meiosis. That combination—two divisions after one replication event and the resulting halved chromosome number—best fits the description.

The other statements don’t capture meiosis completely: mitosis produces identical daughter cells in one division; replication without division would duplicate DNA but not separate chromosomes; and while meiosis does shuffle alleles, its defining feature is the reduction of chromosome number and the two rounds of division, not a vague notion of random gene shuffling.