Egg and sperm cells have to have half the number of chromosomes as in body cells so when they combine to form a zygote, the zygote is diploid and has the correct number of chromosomes. This explanation describes why meiosis produces haploid cells.
Explanation:
Meiosis is a type of cell division in which four haploid cells are produced from a diploid parent cell having two copies of each chromosome, where the number of chromosomes in the parent cell is reduced to half by undergoing DNA replication and nuclear division. Diploid cell contains two copies of each chromosome, one inherited from mother and the other from father while haploid cell contains only one copy of each chromosome. Examples of diploid cells (somatic cells) are skin, blood, muscle cells etc. Eggs or ovum (female gametes) and sperm (male gametes) are haploid reproductive cells. If the total number of chromosomes in a diploid cell is represented as '2n', then the number of chromosomes in a haploid cell is 'n'. During the fertilization process in an organism, the correct number of chromosomes is restored when the haploid male and female gamete combined to form a single diploid zygote, which is the first developmental stage of an organism.
