Mitosis
When the chromosomes condense during cell division, they have already undergone replication. Each chromosome thus consists of two identical replicas, called chromatids, joined at a point called the centromere. During mitosis the sister chromatids separate, one going to each daughter cell. Chromosomes thus meet the first criterion for being the repository of genes: they are replicated, and a full copy is passed to each daughter cell during mitosis.
Meiosis
It was the behaviour of chromosomes during meiosis, that provided the strongest evidence for their being the carriers of genes. In 1902 American scientist Walter S. Sutton reported on his observations of the action of chromosomes during sperm formation in grasshoppers. Sutton had observed that, during meiosis, each chromosome (consisting of two chromatids) becomes paired with a physically similar chromosome. These homologous chromosomes separate during meiosis, with one member of each pair going to a different cell. Assuming that one member of each homologous pair was of maternal origin and the other was paternally derived, here was an event that fulfilled the behaviour of genes postulated in Mendel’s first law.
It is now known that the number of chromosomes within the nucleus is usually constant in all individuals of a given species—for example, 46 in the human, 40 in the house mouse, 8 in the vinegar fly (Drosophila melanogaster; sometimes called fruit fly), 20 in corn (maize), 24 in the tomato, and 48 in the potato. In sexually reproducing organisms, this number is called the diploid number of chromosomes, as it represents the double dose of chromosomes received from two parents. The nucleus of a gamete, however, contains half this number of chromosomes, or the haploid number. Thus, a human gamete contains 23 chromosomes, while a Drosophila gamete contains four. Meiosis produces the haploid gametes.
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