Meiosis II is the second, equational division of meiosis, proceeding through prophase II, metaphase II, anaphase II, and telophase II (optionally preceded by an interphase II rest period that varies by cell type and species), and it operates on the two haploid cells produced by meiosis I. Mechanistically it is equivalent to mitosis: the nuclear envelope dissolves and chromosomes condense, duplicated centrosomes migrate to opposite poles while microtubules attach to kinetochores at the centromere, sister chromatids are separated at anaphase into individual daughter chromosomes, and telophase with cytokinesis yields four haploid gametes. The concept belongs to cell biology and genetics, specifically the theory of cell division, and it establishes that meiosis II is chromosome-number-preserving (haploid in, haploid out) — unlike the reductional meiosis I — so that the resulting gametes carry non-homologous chromosome sets ready to restore diploidy at fertilization.
Meiosis II is the second, equational division of meiosis, proceeding through prophase II, metaphase II, anaphase II, and telophase II (optionally preceded by an interphase II rest period that varies …