Final answer:
There can be 16 different combinations (2^4) of maternal and paternal chromosomes in gametes for an organism with a diploid number of 8. The number comes from the independent assortment of chromosomes during meiosis.
Step-by-step explanation:
The question asks about the number of different genetic combinations that can result from meiosis in an organism with a diploid number of chromosomes equal to 8 (2n = 8).
During meiosis, how chromosomes are assorted is random, thanks to a process called independent assortment, that occurs during metaphase I.
For an organism with a diploid number of 8, the formula to find the number of different combinations is 2n, where 'n' represents the number of chromosomes in a single set (the haploid number).
Therefore, the total number of different combinations of maternal and paternal chromosomes in the gametes is 24 because the haploid number 'n' is 4.
In humans, the haploid number 'n' is 23, meaning the number of possible combinations is 223, which is over 8 million. This immense diversity is further increased by the process of crossing over and by the randomness of fertilization.