Does sexual reproduction result in genetic diversity?

• A. Not necessarily
• B. Yes, produces cells that are genetically different from parents and from each other.
• C. Sometimes
• D. No, offspring are genetically identical to the parents.

Answer: (B)

Genetic diversity comes from the way genetic material is shuffled and combined in sexual reproduction. Gametes are produced by meiosis, which includes crossing over and independent assortment. Crossing over exchanges chromosome segments between paired homologs, creating new allele combinations. Independent assortment randomly distributes maternal and paternal chromosomes into gametes, producing many possible genetic combinations. When two gametes fuse during fertilization, the zygote gets a unique mix of genes from both parents, and even siblings end up genetically different. This mixing means offspring are not identical to their parents or to each other, which is the essence of diversity in sexually reproducing populations.