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If a somatic cell contains chromosomes arranged in pairs, it is called diploid and the organism is called a diploid organism. The gametes of diploid organisms contain only single unpaired chromosomes and are called haploid. Each pair of chromosomes comprises one chromosome inherited from the father and one inherited from the mother.
These somatic cells are diploid, containing two copies of each chromosome, whereas germ cells are haploid, as they only contain one copy of each chromosome (in preparation for fertilisation). Although under normal circumstances all somatic cells in an organism contain identical DNA , they develop a variety of tissue-specific characteristics.
The list of organisms by chromosome count describes ploidy or numbers of chromosomes in the cells of various plants, animals, protists, and other living organisms.This number, along with the visual appearance of the chromosome, is known as the karyotype, [1] [2] [3] and can be found by looking at the chromosomes through a microscope.
The basic number of chromosomes in the somatic cells of an individual or a species is called the somatic number and is designated 2n. In the germ-line (the sex cells) the chromosome number is n (humans: n = 23). [4] [5] p28 Thus, in humans 2n = 46. So, in normal diploid organisms, autosomal chromosomes are present in two copies.
Asexually reproducing species have one set of chromosomes that are the same in all body cells. However, asexual species can be either haploid or diploid. Sexually reproducing species have somatic cells (body cells) that are diploid [2n], having two sets of chromosomes (23 pairs in humans), one set from the mother and one from the father.
A pair of homologous chromosomes, or homologs, is a set of one maternal and one paternal chromosome that pair up with each other inside a cell during fertilization. Homologs have the same genes in the same loci , where they provide points along each chromosome that enable a pair of chromosomes to align correctly with each other before ...
By extension a cell may be called haploid if its nucleus has one set of chromosomes, and an organism may be called haploid if its body cells (somatic cells) have one set of chromosomes per cell. By this definition haploid therefore would not be used to refer to the gametes produced by the tetraploid organism in the example above, since these ...
Someone with two X chromosomes (such as the majority of human females) has only one Barr body per somatic cell, while someone with one X chromosome (such as most human males) has none. Mammalian X-chromosome inactivation is initiated from the X inactivation centre or Xic, usually found near the centromere. [6]