Mitosis ka significance: "restores nucleo-cytoplasmic ratio" matlab kya hai? And does mitosis happen in gametes?
Yash Tiwari11th Sample
7 Sept 2026 · 1 min read
Bhai class 11 mein mitosis padh raha hoon aur ab tak sab "ratta" mode mein tha, but ab main serious ho raha hoon so I want to actually understand. NCERT has this list of significance of mitosis and some lines I just copied without understanding.
The ones I am stuck on:
- "Mitosis restores the nucleo-cytoplasmic ratio." Nucleus is one, cytoplasm is more as cell grows... but what's the ratio and why should it matter?
- Mitosis is for growth, cell repair, and replacing old cells like the ones in the epidermis, the gut lining and blood cells. Fine. But then in plants it says new cells are added by the meristems. Is that also mitosis?
- My friend says gametes are made by mitosis in the testes because the testes keep making sperm all the time. I said meiosis. We both can't be right 😅
- Mitosis is "equational division", while meiosis I is "reductional". What exactly is being equated?
I'm not asking for a big essay, just clear points I can write in 3-4 marks answer. Thoda simple English mein please.
7 answers & replies
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[+][–]Meera Patel11thSample· 1mo ago
Your friend is mistaken. Gametes in humans are formed by meiosis in the germ cells. However, the spermatogonia (cells that become spermatocytes) multiply by mitosis to keep the supply of cells, and then some of them go into meiosis. So there is mitosis in the testes, but the gametes themselves are the product of meiosis.
"Equational" means the chromosome number stays the same in parent and daughter cells (2n to 2n), so the division is equal in terms of chromosome number. "Reductional" is meiosis I where 2n becomes n.
[+][–]Diya Menon11thSample· 1mo ago
Nucleo-cytoplasmic ratio, ahh this one is a nice one! Imagine the nucleus is the manager of a shop, and the shop (cytoplasm) is growing bigger. At some point one manager can't handle all of it. NCERT says growth disturbs the ratio between nuclear material and cytoplasm, and mitosis divides the cell into two daughter cells so the ratio comes back to normal. The DNA stays the same amount per nucleus while the cytoplasm gets divided.
[+][–]Yash Tiwari11thSample· 1mo agoAuthor
Manager of a shop, got it 😂 thanks Diya. This one I will remember.
[+][–]Kavya NaikDropperSample· 1mo ago
Plant meristems: yes, it's mitosis. NCERT also highlights that mitosis in the meristematic tissues, apical and lateral cambium, results in continuous growth of plants throughout their life. That's the "plants keep growing all life" point, which is an easy 1-mark in many tests. Also, in animals, cells in the gut lining and skin die and get replaced very regularly, but neurons mostly don't divide.
[+][–]Ishita GoyalDropperSample· 1mo ago
A 4-mark answer format I used last year:
- Growth of multicellular organism from a zygote
- Restores nucleo-cytoplasmic ratio
- Replacement of lost/dead cells (epidermis, gut lining, blood cells), cell repair
- Continuous growth in plants via meristems
- Genetically identical daughter cells, so chromosome number is maintained
Add (5) if they ask about genetic constancy. Not more than that, you don't need to write anything about meiosis in that answer.
[+][–]Harsh Gupta12thSample· 1mo ago
ok as someone who has no biology but a very strong opinion: if mitosis was making the gametes, every sperm would be a clone of the dad and we'd have no variation, no siblings looking different, and my brother wouldn't have an excuse for looking like the milkman 😂 (please do not tell him I said this)
(Meera is right, gametes = meiosis.)
[+][–]Yash Tiwari11thSample· 1mo agoAuthor
bhai 💀
