Explain how independent assortment occurs in cells and explain its importance.

Independent assortment of genes occurs during meiosis in eukaryotes. Meiosis is a type of cell division that reduces the number of chromosomes in a parent cell by half to produce four reproductive cells called gametes. In humans, diploid cells contain 46 chromosomes, with 23 chromosomes inherited from the mother and a second similar set of 23 chromosomes inherited from the father. Pairs of similar chromosomes are called homologous chromosomes. During meiosis, the pairs of homologous chromosome are divided in half to form haploid cells, and this separation, or assortment, of homologous chromosomes is random. This means that all of the maternal chromosomes will not be separated into one cell, while the all paternal chromosomes are separated into another. Instead, after meiosis occurs, each haploid cell contains a mixture of genes from the organism's mother and father.

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