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2019Q1(a)(iv)Structure of Chromosomes, Cell Cycle and Cell Division
Biological termHard1 mark
1(a)

Name the following:

A pair of corresponding chromosomes of the same shape and size and derived one from each parent.

Topic: Homologous chromosomes

Previous-year question practice database

Answer

Exam answer

HOMOLOGOUS CHROMOSOMES.

Explanation

In a diploid cell the 46 chromosomes exist as 23 HOMOLOGOUS PAIRS — one member of each pair inherited from the father and one from the mother.

The two members are alike in shape, size and the position of the centromere, and they carry genes for the SAME characters at the SAME loci. The alternative forms of those genes are the ALLELES.

WHY THEY MATTER: during MEIOSIS the homologous pairs separate, one member going to each gamete. That is the physical basis of MENDEL’S LAW OF SEGREGATION — the two alleles of a pair separate because the two homologous chromosomes carrying them separate.

Do not confuse HOMOLOGOUS CHROMOSOMES (a pair from two parents) with CHROMATIDS (two identical copies of one chromosome, made by replication).

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