Question

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when egg and sperm
orm, they go through a
special type of cell
ivision called meiosis.
one purpose of meiosis is
o reduce the number of
chromosomes by half.
the other is to create
genetic diversity. the
diagram on the right
illustrates the
chromosome reduction
aspect of meiosis. how
many chromosomes are
present in each step?

Explanation:

Step1: Chromosome number in mother and father cells

In humans, somatic cells (like mother and father cells before meiosis) have 46 chromosomes. So, Mother has 46 chromosomes and Father has 46 chromosomes.

Step2: Chromosome number in egg and sperm

Meiosis reduces the chromosome number by half. So, egg has 23 chromosomes and sperm has 23 chromosomes.

Step3: Chromosome number in zygote

Fertilization is the fusion of egg and sperm. So, \(23 + 23=46\) chromosomes in zygote.

Step4: Chromosome number in embryo and baby

Mitosis is a type of cell division that results in daughter cells with the same number of chromosomes as the parent cell. So, embryo has 46 chromosomes and baby has 46 chromosomes.

Answer:

Mother: 46, Father: 46, egg: 23, sperm: 23, zygote: 46, embryo: 46, baby: 46.