Which process is responsible for producing gametes?

The process responsible for producing gametes is meiosis. Meiosis is a special type of cell division that reduces the chromosome number by half, resulting in the production of four genetically diverse daughter cells, each containing half the number of chromosomes of the original cell. This reduction is crucial for sexual reproduction, as it ensures that when gametes (sperm and egg) unite during fertilization, the resulting offspring have the appropriate diploid chromosome number.

Meiosis includes two rounds of division, meiosis I and meiosis II, and introduces genetic variation through processes like crossing over and independent assortment. These characteristics of meiosis are essential for genetic diversity in populations, which is important for evolution and adaptation.

In contrast, the other processes mentioned do not produce gametes. Mitosis results in two genetically identical daughter cells and is primarily involved in growth and repair. Binary fission is a form of asexual reproduction seen in prokaryotic organisms, where a single organism divides into two daughter cells. Cytokinesis is the physical process of cell division that occurs at the end of mitosis or meiosis, but it does not itself create gametes. Thus, meiosis is specifically tailored to generate gametes for sexual reproduction.