Question

How do autosomal chromosomes differ from sex chromosomes?

Answer 1

The chromosome which determines the sex of the organism is the sex chromosome while the chromosomes other than the sex chromosomes are autosomes.

Complete answer:
Autosomes are the chromosomes that regulate the somatic characteristics of an organism.

1)They contain most of the genes of the organism and the maximum number of chromosomes in our genome is autosomes.
2)They are labeled from 1-22.
3)In autosomes the position of the centromere is identical.
4)Follows Mendelian inheritance.
5)The number of genes in autosomes varies from 200 to 2000. Chromosome 1 which is the largest carries about 2800 genes in humans.

The sex chromosomes determine the sex of the organism and regulate the sex linked characteristics.

1)There are few numbers of sex chromosomes in our genome.
2)They are labeled by letters XX, XY, XO, ZW, etc
3)There is only one sex chromosome in humans.
4)In sex chromosomes the position of the centromere is non-identical
5)They do not follow Mendelian inheritance.
6)X chromosomes contain more than 300 genes while Y chromosomes contain only a few genes because of their small size.

Note: The males and females have the same copy of autosomes i.e. homologous while male sex chromosomes (XY) are non-homologous (heteromorphic) and the Female sex chromosomes (XX) are homologous (homomorphic).