What is the main general difference between Mitosis and Meiosis? I found such a clause: > The general principle is that mitosis creates somatic cells and meiosis creates germ cells. However, I cannot agree. Each gametogonium needs to go through mitosis before it can enter meiosis I. So in that case mitosis is happening with germ cells so the clause is false. I would rephrase the sentence to be > The general principle is that meiosis creates only germ cells with the possibility of a decrease in chromosome number, while mitosis can create both somatic and germ cells while the ploidy stays constant. Ok, not perfect. **How would you say the main general difference between mitosis and meiosis?**

If the question is about the one and only most important difference between mitosis and meiosis, then the answer "meiosis reduces ploidy" is probably correct. But if the list of important differences is open, it would be critical to add that mitosis generates identical cells (identical to each other and any ancestral cells, barring rare new mutations), while meiosis generates genetic diversity by creating cells, which are all different from each other and from any ancestral cells. It does so by independent segregation of homologs and by crossingover within chromosomes.