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Meiosis Compared to Mitosis: Homolog Pairing and Crossover

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Meiosis differs from mitosis beyond division count: homologous chromosomes pair and cross over in meiosis I, an event absent from mitosis.

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A mitotic cell's homologs never touch each other, while a meiotic cell's homologs synapse and exchange segments in prophase I alone.

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Meiosis II's stages resemble mitosis closely — these differences belong to meiosis I specifically, not to meiosis as a whole.