Their DNA floats freely within the cell in a twisted, thread-like mass called the nucleoid. Animals, plants and fungi are all eukaryotes. Eukaryotic cells have specialized components called organelles, such as mitochondria , chloroplasts and the endoplasmic reticulum. Each of these performs a specific function. Unlike prokaryotes, eukaryotic DNA is packed within a central compartment called the nucleus. Within the eukaryotic nucleus, long double-helical strands of DNA are wrapped tightly around proteins called histones.
This forms a rod-like structure called the chromosome. Cells in the human body have 23 pairs of chromosomes, or 46 in total. This includes two sex chromosomes: two X chromosomes for females and one X and one Y chromosome for males.
Because each chromosome has a pair, these cells are called "diploid" cells. On the other hand, human sperm and egg cells have only 23 chromosomes, or half the chromosomes of a diploid cell. Thus, they are called "haploid" cells. When the sperm and egg combine during fertilization, the total chromosome number is restored.
That's because sexually reproducing organisms receive a set of chromosomes from each parent: a maternal and paternal set. Each chromosome has a corresponding pair, orhomolog. Eukaryotes are capable of two types of cell division: mitosis and meiosis. Mitosis allows for cells to produce identical copies of themselves, which means the genetic material is duplicated from parent to daughter cells.
Mitosis produces two daughter cells from one parent cell. Single-celled eukaryotes, such as amoeba and yeast, use mitosis to reproduce asexuallyand increase their population. Multicellular eukaryotes, like humans, use mitosis to grow or heal injured tissues.
Meiosis, on the other hand, is a specialized form of cell division that occurs in organisms that reproduce sexually.
As mentioned above, it produces reproductive cells, such as sperm cells, egg cells, and spores in plants and fungi. In humans, special cells called germ cells undergo meiosis and ultimately give rise to sperm or eggs.
Germ cells contain a complete set of 46 chromosomes 23 maternal chromosomes and 23 paternal chromosomes. By the end of meiosis, the resulting reproductive cells, or gametes , each have 23 genetically unique chromosomes. The overall process of meiosis produces four daughter cells from one single parent cell. Each daughter cell is haploid, because it has half the number of chromosomes as the original parent cell. Simultaneously, the centrioles, pairs of cylindrical microtubular organelles, move to opposite poles and the region containing them becomes the source for spindle fibers.
These spindle fibers anchor onto the kinetochore, a macromolecule that regulates the interaction between them and the chromosome during the next stages of meiosis. The kinetochores are attached to the centromere of each chromosome and help move the chromosomes to position along a three-dimensional plane at the middle of the cell, called the metaphase plate. The cell now prepares for metaphase I, the next step after prophase I.
During metaphase I, the tetrads finish aligning along the metaphase plate, although the orientation of the chromosomes making them up is random. The chromosomes have fully condensed by the point and are firmly associated with the spindle fibers in preparation for the next step, anaphase I. During this third stage of meiosis I, the tetrads are pulled apart by the spindle fibers, each half becoming a dyad in effect, a chromosome or two sister chromatids attached at the centromere. Assuming that nondisjunction failure of chromosomes to separate does not occur, half of the chromosomes in the cell will be maneuvered to one pole while the rest will be pulled to the opposite pole.
This migration of the chromosomes is followed by the final and brief step of meiosis I, telophase I, which, coupled with cytokinesis physical separation of the entire mother cell , produces two daughter cells. Each of these daughter cells contains 23 dyads, which sum up to 46 monads or single-stranded chromosomes. Meiosis II follows with no further replication of the genetic material. The chromosomes briefly unravel at the end of meiosis I, and at the beginning of meiosis II they must reform into chromosomes in their newly-created cells.
This brief prophase II stage [isEmbeddedIn] is followed by metaphase II, during which the chromosomes migrate toward the metaphase plate. During anaphase II, the spindle fibers again pull the chromosomes apart to opposite poles of the cell; however, this time it is the sister chromatids that are being split apart, instead of the pairs of homologous chromosomes as in the first meiotic step. A second round of telophase this time called telophase II and cytokinesis splits each daughter cell further into two new cells.
Each of these cells has 23 single-stranded chromosomes, making each cell haploid possessing 1N chromosomes. As mentioned, sperm and egg cells follow roughly the same pattern during meiosis , albeit a number of important differences. Spermatogenesis follows the pattern of meiosis more closely than oogenesis, primarily because once it begins human males start producing sperm at the onset of puberty in their early teens , it is a continuous process that produces four gametes per spermatocyte the male germ cell that enters meiosis.
Excluding mutation and mistakes, these sperm are identical except for their individual, unique genetic load. They each contain the same amount of cytoplasm and are propelled by whip-like flagella.
In females, oogenesis and meiosis begin while the individual is still in the womb. The primary oocytes, analogous to the spermatocyte in the male, undergo meiosis I up to diplonema in the womb , and then their progress is arrested. Once the female reaches puberty, small clutches of these arrested oocytes will proceed up to metaphase II and await fertilization so that they may complete the entire meiotic process; however, one oocyte will only produce one egg instead of four like the sperm.
This can be explained by the placement of the metaphase plate in the dividing female germ cell. Instead of lying across the middle of the cell like in spermatogenesis, the metaphase plate is tucked in the margin of the dividing cell, although equal distribution of the genetic material still occurs. This results in a grossly unequal distribution of the cytoplasm and associated organelles once the cell undergoes cytokinesis.
This first division produces a large cell and a small cell. The large cell, the secondary oocyte , contains the vast majority of the cytoplasm of the parent cell, and holds half of the genetic material of that cell as well. How many chromosomes are present in telophase ii? Why does nondisjunction cause mutation? How does aneuploidy differ from polyploidy?
What is aneuploidy? How does trisomy 18 affect a person? What is the difference between mitosis and meiosis? What is the result of meiosis? What happens during meiosis?
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