Question

the quantity of dna inside of a eukaryotic cell doubles during the cell cycle so that —
a. the new daughter cells will each have a set of chromosomes identical to the parent cell

b. the organelles in the cytoplasm can be divided equally in the resulting daughter cells

c. each daughter cell contains half the number of chromosomes as the parent cell

d. only the genes needed by specialized cells are duplicated in the daughter cells

Explanation:

To solve this, we analyze each option:

• Option A: During the cell cycle (specifically S - phase), DNA replicates so that when cell division (mitosis) occurs, each daughter cell gets an identical set of chromosomes as the parent cell. This matches the purpose of DNA doubling.
• Option B: DNA doubling is not related to organelle division (organelle division is a different process in the cell cycle, mainly in cytokinesis and other phases, not directly related to DNA replication).
• Option C: Daughter cells having half the number of chromosomes is characteristic of meiosis, not the normal cell cycle (mitosis) where DNA doubles for identical distribution.
• Option D: DNA replication in the cell cycle duplicates all DNA, not just genes for specialized cells (cell specialization involves gene expression, not selective DNA replication during the cell cycle).

Answer:

A. the new daughter cells will each have a set of chromosomes identical to the parent cell