Answered

a horse has 64 chromosomes and a donkey has 62, using your knowledge of meiosis explain why a cross between these animals produces a sterile mule



Answer :

lulu1991
When horse and donkey produces offspring, the horse will give 32 chromosomes and donkey will give 31 chromosomes to the offspring. So the offspring has 63 in total. It is odd so it can not produce normal germ cell. So it is sterile.
Answer;
when horse and a donkey mate; the horse will give 32 chromosome and the donkey would give 31 chromosomes to the off springs. The result is an offspring with 63 chromosomes. This offspring is a sterile mule since it cannot produce a normal germ cell.

Explanation;
Meiosis is a type of cell division in which germ-line cells undergo division to yield four daughter cells with haploid number of chromosomes; meaning they have only one set of each chromosomes. Therefore, gametes from the horse will have 32 chromosomes, while those from the donkey will have 31 chromosomes. When the two combine they form an offspring with 63 chromosomes, a number which will be difficult to yield gametes with half the number of chromosome as it is not divisible by two.

Other Questions