The correct answer is c meiosis.
Mendel’s laws of segregation and independent assortment describe how alleles are distributed during the formation of gametes. These processes occur during meiosis, which is the type of cell division that reduces the chromosome number by half, leading to the formation of gametes (sperm and egg cells). Specifically, during meiosis I, homologous chromosomes separate, ensuring that each gamete receives only one allele from each gene, which is the basis of the law of segregation. Furthermore, the law of independent assortment states that the alleles for different genes segregate independently of one another during gamete formation. This independent distribution occurs because different pairs of chromosomes are sorted into gametes independently during meiosis. Therefore, understanding meiosis is crucial to grasping Mendel’s foundational work in genetics.