Question

A diploid somatic cell has 32 chromosomes total. At the end of mitosis, each daughter cell would have ______ chromosomes. At the end of meiosis I, each daughter cell would have ______ chromosomes. At the end of meiosis II, each daughter cell would have ______ chromosomes.

Answer 1

A diploid somatic cell has 32 chromosomes total. At the end of mitosis, each daughter cell would have 32 chromosomes. At the end of meiosis I, each daughter cell would have 16 chromosomes. At the end of meiosis II, each daughter cell would have 16 chromosomes.

Mitosis is the division where the cells and their genetic material exactly divide into two identical copies. The number of chromosomes remains the same at the end of the division. During synthesis phase the DNA is replicated and duplicated which is then separated among the daughter cells in the subsequent steps of mitosis. Thus in mitosis the number of chromosomes will be 2n --> 2n+ 2n.

Meiosis is generally termed as reduction division as the number of chromosomes in the cell is reduced to half the number. This type of division occurs in sex cells where the diploid cell is divided to haploid ones. This process takes place as two major steps named meiosis I and II. The total number of chromosomes separate into half at the end of meiosis I i.e 2n --> n + n (diploid to two haploids) and meiosis II is more similar to mitotic division, here the haploid cells are divided once again and 2 more cells are produced, unlike mitosis these cells have only one pair of the chromosome.

2n 32) — mitosis an 32 2n 32 21 (32) Le Meiosis 7 (reduction) n n 16 116 = Meiosis I (similar to mitosis n n n ( sin n 16 (16 76 16