How Many Chromosomes Are In A Sperm Cell Compared To A Skin Cell?

How Cells Split

Past Rick Groleau
Posted x.09.01
NOVA

Most of the time, when a cell in our bodies divides, each new cell carries a complete set of chromosomes. The cells involved with human reproduction, notwithstanding, bear only half subsequently division occurs. In this stride-past-step caption, acquire about mitosis and meiosis, the 2 types of cell division.

This feature originally appeared on the site for the NOVA program 18 Ways to Brand a Babe.

Background on Meiosis and Mitosis

As viewed from a human perspective, nature seems to accept washed ingenious technology to overcome obstacles. Take the evolution of sexual practice, for instance. To brand the move from asexual to sexual reproduction, nature took a system by which parent cells reproduced just by dividing (asexual reproduction) and altered it to allow two parent cells to combine to create offspring (sexual reproduction).

Asexual reproduction relies on a process called mitosis, in which the nucleus of a cell divides to create two new nuclei, each containing an identical copy of DNA. Mitosis allows the cells in your body to divide and regenerate—your hair to grow, your skin to heal afterward beingness wounded. About all of the DNA duplication in your trunk is carried out through mitosis.

Meiosis, on the other mitt, is the process by which sure sexual practice cells are created. If you're male, your trunk uses meiosis to create sperm cells; if you're female person, it uses meiosis to create egg cells. While all other cells in your torso contain 46 chromosomes (23 from your father and 23 from your mother), your egg (or sperm) cells contain only half that number—a full of 23 chromosomes. When an egg and sperm unite to make a fertilized egg, the chromosomes add upwards to equal 46.

How exactly does meiosis halve and mix chromosomes? Find out through this feature, which provides a step-by-footstep, side-by-side comparison of meiosis and mitosis.