Cell Types and Division
Think of your body as having two main types of cells with completely different jobs. Somatic cells are basically every cell in your body except those involved in making babies - your skin, muscle, brain cells, the lot. These cells use mitosis to create identical copies of themselves when you need to grow or repair damage.
Germline cells are the special ones involved in reproduction. This includes your actual gametes (sperm and eggs) plus the stem cells that create them. Here's where it gets interesting - germline cells can divide in two ways: mitosis to make more germline cells, or meiosis to create gametes.
Meiosis happens in two stages that are dead important to remember. First division separates homologous chromosomes, then the second division separates chromatids. This process reduces chromosome number by half, which is why gametes are haploid.
Quick Tip: Remember that somatic = body cells, germline = reproductive cells. This distinction comes up constantly in exams!
