Problem Set - Mitosis and Meiosis Questions

Mitosis and Meiosis Questions

Instructions: Consult your textbook if necessary. These are practice questions; you do not have to turn in your answers.

1. The fruit fly Drosophila has a diploid number of 8. How many chromatids are in diploid nuclei of Drosophila at prophase of mitosis? How many chromosomes?
2. How many chromatids are in diploid nuclei of Drosophila at telophase of mitosis? How many chromosomes?
3. How many chromatids are in nuclei of Drosophila in prophase I of meiosis? How many chromosomes?
4. How many chromatids are in nuclei of Drosophila in prophase II of meiosis? How many chromosomes?
5. How many chromatids are in nuclei of Drosophila in telophase II of meiosis? How many chromosomes?
6. Maize has a haploid number of 10. How many chromosomes are in a zygote of maize?
7. An anaphase cell of maize has 10 centromeres and 20 chromatids going to each pole. What anaphase is it?
8. An anaphase cell of maize has 10 centromeres and 10 chromatids going to each pole. What anaphase is it?
9. How many homologous pairs of chromosomes are there in maize?
10. If you were comparing the behavior of chromosomes of Drosophila and maize, how many chromosomes would there be in the Drosophila nuclei that were at the same stage as maize nuclei that had 10 chromosomes?
11. How many homologous pairs are there in a Drosophila nucleus at prophase II of meiosis?
12. How many homologous pairs are there in a maize nucleus at prophase of mitosis in a diploid cell?
13. This chromosome was seen moving to one of the poles of a spindle. What stage of mitosis or meiosis is probably being observed?
14. What is the function of mitosis?
15. What is the function of meiosis?
16. In Drosophila as well as humans, males are XY and females are XX. The sex chromosomes and one pair of homologous autosomes is illustrated below for one male and one female fly. (The first pair of chromosomes of each fly shown below consists of its sex chromosomes; each chromatid of the “Y” chromosome looks like this: The maternal autosome of each pair is bolded.)
    Male: Female:
    What proportion of the gametes of the male fly will lack its maternal autosome?
17. What proportion of the gametes of the female fly will have its maternal autosome?
18. What proportion of the gametes produced by the female fly will have an X (sex) chromosome and its maternal autosome?
19. What proportion of the gametes produced by the male fly will have an X (sex) chromosome and its maternal autosome?
20. If you crossed the two flies represented symbolically in Question 16, would any of the zygotes produced have the maternal autosomes of both parents? If so, what proportion would?
21. What proportion of the zygotes referred to in Question 20 would be male and have the maternal autosome of only the male parent?
22. Draw all the possible chromosome combinations in the gametes produced by meiosis of the male diagrammed in Question 16.
23. Draw all the possible nuclei in Prophase II of a fly like the male diagrammed in Question 16.
24. Draw a picture of anaphase I of meiosis of a fly like the female in Question 16.
25. Draw a picture of anaphase II of meiosis of a fly like the female in Question 16.