What is a unique characteristic of mitosis?

A unique characteristic of mitosis is that it produces two genetically identical daughter cells from the parent cell. This characteristic is critically important to the development of living organisms as it helps the body grow and repair cells in a highly efficient way.

Mitosis does not occur in all cells of the body and, instead, is limited to those cells which only need to regularly grow and repair. Sex cells, for example, do not multiply by mitosis and, instead, multiply by a process known as meiosis. Unlike mitosis, which produces genetically identical cells, sex cells only produce daughter cells with half the quantity of chromosomes as the parent cell.