Glossary

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Gametes

Germ cells or sex cells

In contrast to other cells in a diploid organism, gametes (e.g. oocytes and spermatocytes) have only a single set of chromosomes. These cells are formed during the process of meiosis, by which a parent cell divides without replicating its chromosomes as usual, resulting in two daughter cells with only one set of chromosomes each (instead of two). Exchanges of genetic information among chromosome pairs occurs during meiotic cell division (crossing over). Later, when two gametes fuse during sexual reproduction, the full chromosome complement is restored in the resulting zygote.