Consider a human cell undergoing meiosis. Assume that maternaland paternal chrom

Question

Consider a human cell undergoing meiosis. Assume that maternaland paternal chromosomes are different (very likely), but for thisproblem assume that no crossing over occurs (very unlikely). Howmany different gametes are possible? Solve and give a real numberanswer? I think the answer is 2^23. I am not 100% sure though? Consider a human cell undergoing meiosis. Assume that maternaland paternal chromosomes are different (very likely), but for thisproblem assume that no crossing over occurs (very unlikely). Howmany different gametes are possible? Solve and give a real numberanswer? I think the answer is 2^23. I am not 100% sure though?

Explanation / Answer

Your assumption is correct.
a) Assuming the conditions you provided in your question, thenumber of possible combinations when chromosomes sort"independently" during Meiosis is 2n, wheren is the haploid number. b) In the case of humans the number of possible combinationsof maternal and paternal chromosomes in the resulting gametes is223, or approximately 8.4 million. Each gamete that you produce in your lifetime contains about8.4 million possible combinations of chromosomes. Good work! I hope this helps in your understanding ofindependent assortment of chromosomes!

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