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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.
Most eukaryotes are diploid, meaning that there are two of each chromosome in the nucleus but the 'genome' refers to only one copy of each chromosome. Some eukaryotes have distinctive sex chromosomes, such as the X and Y chromosomes of mammals, so the technical definition of the genome must include both copies of the sex chromosomes.
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.
When a human germ cell undergoes meiosis, the diploid 46 chromosome complement is split in half to form haploid gametes. After fusion of a male and a female gamete (each containing 1 set of 23 chromosomes) during fertilization, the resulting zygote again has the full complement of 46 chromosomes: 2 sets of 23 chromosomes.
This list of sequenced animal genomes contains animal species for which complete genome sequences have been assembled, annotated and published. Substantially complete draft genomes are included, but not partial genome sequences or organelle-only sequences.
The first step of the Human Genome Project took place when Tjio and Levan, in 1956, reported the accurate diploid number of human chromosomes as 2n = 46. [ 6 ] During this phase, data on the karyotypes of hundreds of mammalian species (including information on diploid numbers, relative length and morphology of chromosomes, presence of B ...
Following the advent of procedures that allowed easy enumeration of chromosomes, discoveries were quickly made related to aberrant chromosomes or chromosome number. [citation needed] Constitutional cytogenetics: In some congenital disorders, such as Down syndrome, cytogenetics revealed the nature of the chromosomal defect: a "simple" trisomy.
Organisms in which a particular chromosome, or chromosome segment, is under- or over-represented are said to be aneuploid (from the Greek words meaning "not", "good", and "fold"). Aneuploidy refers to a numerical change in part of the chromosome set, whereas polyploidy refers to a numerical change in the whole set of chromosomes. [44]