Question

Part 1: A flower has 26 chromosomes. To create a new flower, how many chromosomes would a sperm cell have? What is this process called? Part 2: Within a flower cell that has 26 chromosomes, how many chromosomes would a cell that is created within the stem of a flower as it grows, have? What is this process called?

Answer 1

A sperm cell from a flower with 26 chromosomes would have 13 chromosomes, achieved through meiosis. Cells in the stem of a flower also have 26 chromosomes and are produced by mitosis.

Step-by-step explanation:

If a flower has 26 chromosomes, a sperm cell produced by this flower would have 13 chromosomes. This is because gametes (sperm and egg cells) are haploid, meaning they carry half the number of chromosomes as somatic (body) cells. This halving of the chromosome number occurs through a process called meiosis, ensuring that when a sperm and egg unite during fertilization, the resultant zygote has the correct diploid number of chromosomes, in this case, 26.

As for cells created within the stem of a growing flower, these cells would also have 26 chromosomes. This is because they are produced through a different process called mitosis, where a single cell divides to produce two cells, each with the same number of chromosomes as the parent cell.