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How do daughter cells get the entire genome (all genes) from the mother cell?

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Final answer:

Daughter cells receive a complete set of genetic information from the mother cell through DNA replication during cell division. Eukaryotic cells use mitosis while prokaryotic cells use binary fission. All cells within an organism carry the same genome, which can express genes differently.

Step-by-step explanation:

How Do Daughter Cells Get the Entire Genome from the Mother Cell?

During cell division, each daughter cell receives a complete set of genetic information, ensuring they have the entire genome. This ensures that both the somatic and reproductive cells maintain the same genetic data as the original mother cell. When a cell divides, DNA replication is critical so that each new cell has an identical copy of DNA. This process of creating two identical daughter cells is called mitosis in eukaryotic cells. In prokaryotic cells, like bacteria, the cell divides through a simpler process known as binary fission, where the single, circular DNA chromosome is duplicated and then divided evenly as the cell splits.

Moreover, in sexual reproduction, each human cell contains 46 chromosomes, with 23 inherited from the mother and 23 from the father. The fusion of haploid gametes (sperm and egg) during fertilization restores the full chromosome set, adhering to Mendelian laws of inheritance.

Additionally, scientific discoveries, such as the work by John Gurdon and Shinya Yamanaka on Xenopus laevis, demonstrated that all cells in a multicellular organism carry the same genome but express genes differently.

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