Mastering Biology: Chapter 13

What number and types of chromosomes are found in a human somatic cell?

-44 autosomes and 2 sex chromosomes -human somatic cells contain 22 pairs of autosomes and either two X chromosomes (in females) or an X and a Y chromosome (in males)

For what purposes might a karyotype be prepared?

-an show if all of the chromosomes are present -whether if an individual is male (XY) or female (XX) -can detect the possible presence of chromosomal abnormalities such as deletions, inversions, or translocations

How are sister chromatids and homologous chromosomes different from each other?

-homologous chromosomes contain the same gene loci but may have different alleles of a particular genes (one comes from the father, the other comes from the mother) -sister chromatids are identical copies of each other produced during DNA replication