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Home » While examining the mitotic stage in a tissue, one finds some cells with 16 chromosomes and some with 32 chromosomes. What possible reasons could you assign to this difference in chromosome number? Do you think cells with 16 chromosomes could have arisen from cells with 32 chromosomes or vice versa?
While examining the mitotic stage in a tissue, one finds some cells with 16 chromosomes and some with 32 chromosomes. What possible reasons could you assign to this difference in chromosome number? Do you think cells with 16 chromosomes could have arisen from cells with 32 chromosomes or vice versa?
Biology | CBSE | Cell Cycle and Cell Division | Class 11 | Exercise 1 | NCERT Exemplar
While examining the mitotic stage in a tissue, one finds some cells with 16 chromosomes and some with 32 chromosomes. What possible reasons could you assign to this difference in chromosome number? Do you think cells with 16 chromosomes could have arisen from cells with 32 chromosomes or vice versa?

Solution: The most possible reason for this phenomenon is mosaicism. Mosaicism refers to the coexistence of two populations of cells with different genotypes in a single person. Mosaicism can occur due to a variety of factors, including nondisjunction, anaphase latency, and endoreplication. The primary cause of mosaicism appears to be anaphase latency.

Since the cells are conducting mitosis rather than meiosis, the cells with 32 chromosomes must have evolved from those with 16 chromosomes. Hence, yes 16 chromosomes could have arisen from cells with 32 chromosomes or vice versa.

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