Which process produces gametes?

• A. Mitosis
• B. Meiosis
• C. Fertilization
• D. Binary fission

Answer: (B)

Producing gametes requires halving the chromosome number so that fertilization restores the full diploid set. The process that does this is meiosis, a reduction division that generates haploid gametes and also promotes genetic diversity through crossing over and independent assortment. In contrast, mitosis makes identical somatic cells with the same chromosome number, so it doesn’t create gametes. Fertilization is the fusion of two gametes to form a zygote, not their production. Binary fission is how some single-celled organisms replicate asexually, not an operation that yields gametes.