How do cells duplicate?
There are two ways of replicating, depending on what is happening. In terms of pure replication, the method is called mitosis. This is where the cells create copies of their DNA and the cell eventually fuses into two identical cells with the same DNA. This is what happens when embryonic cells divide, bacteria replicate or new cells are created to replace old/damaged ones. The second method is replication but kind of in half measures. This is where the cell copies its DNA but each resulting cell ends up with only half the genetic content of the original cell. This is called miosis and is the method by which gametes (sperm and ova) are produced. Each cell has half the genetic content of the original, so that when the two types of gametes fuse the genetic content now is the same as for regular cells. If sperm and ova were created by mitosis, every time they fused the genetic content would essentially double so that offspring would have twice as much as the parent generation.
