What type of cells are produced at the end of meiosis?

At the end of meiosis, the correct type of cells produced are haploid gametes. Meiosis is a specialized form of cell division that occurs in sexually reproducing organisms, resulting in gametes—sperm in males and eggs in females. During meiosis, the cell undergoes two rounds of division, meiosis I and meiosis II, which ultimately reduces the chromosome number by half.

This reduction is crucial for maintaining the species' chromosome number when gametes fuse during fertilization. In humans, for instance, the diploid number is 46, so gametes contain 23 chromosomes each, making them haploid. This is essential for ensuring genetic diversity as meiosis also includes processes like crossing over and independent assortment, which shuffle genetic material.

Other types of cells listed, such as diploid cells and somatic cells, refer to non-gametic cells that have the full set of chromosomes. Stem cells may give rise to various cell types but are not specifically produced through meiosis and do not have the reduced chromosome number characteristic of gametes. Thus, recognizing that the end product of meiosis is haploid cells is fundamental to understanding reproductive biology and genetics.