Question

The liver cells of an alligator have 32 chromosomes. How many chromosomes are in alligator sperm cells?

Answer 1

Cells are the basic foundations of living organisms. The cells are involved in most of the different physiological and biological activities of the organisms. The cells are responsible for growth, development, reproduction etc.

Complete answer:
The living organisms are made up of different types of cells and each of the cells are designated to perform specific purposes. In multicellular organisms, two cell lines are identified which are the somatic cell line and the germ cell line. The somatic cells are also known as the vegetal cells and they are all cells of the body except the reproducing cells. The somatic cells are the cells which are responsible for the growth and development of the body. Whereas the germ cells are the reproducing cells as they give rise to gametes which participates in the process of reproduction.

The chromosomes of the somatic cells are diploid in number and are represented by 2n. The germ cells produce gametes which are haploid in number and are represented as n. The gametes produced by the germ cells are known as sperm cells in the male while in females, it is the ovum which is the germ cells. Both the sperm cells and the ovum are haploid because they consist of only half of the number of chromosomes as compared to the other cells.

An alligator is a crocodilian reptile belonging to the genus Alligator of the family Alligatoridae. They live in freshwater habitats such as ponds, marshes, rivers, lakes, and swamps, as well as in brackish water. The liver cells of a crocodile are made up of somatic cells and so, they are diploid in the number of chromosomes. While, the sperm cells are the male germ cells and are haploid. Hence, if the liver cells have 32 chromosomes, then it can be represented as 2n=32 and the sperm cells will be n=16.

Note: The cells of the body can be divided into somatic cells and germ line cells. The somatic cells are diploid cells and contain 2n chromosomes while the germ cells give rise to gametes which are haploid. They contain half the number of chromosomes or n. Thus, an alligator sperm cells will have the number of chromosomes present in the somatic cells and it contains 16 chromosomes.