Question

What would

happen if sex cells were not

haploid?

Answer 1

Nothing, unless the parent cells were diploid. The idea that gametes are haploid is erroneous. Gametes have half the chromosome count as the non-sex cells (autosomal cells). If the parents are diploid then yes the cells better be haploid, however, not all non-sex cells are in all species are diploid. Many fungi have 4n or 8n or more, same with plants.

Answer 2

number of chromosomes would increase each generation

Answer 3

sex cells are haploid so that when 2 of them fuse together -they can form a diploid zygote
but if they were to be diploid instead of haploid then the number would increase each generation, 46+46=92, then 92+92= 184 etc

Answer 4

The chromosome number would double throughout each generation.

Answer 5

If they were diploid, when two fused to make a new organism, it'd be tetraploid instead of diploid (4n chromosomes instead of the normal 2n; this happens in some plants).

Answer 6

please close this question

Answer 7

@Somy Sex cells are NOT haploid. They are half the chromosome count of the autosomal cells. Haploid merely means 1n and not all cells are autosomal diploid (2n). This may seem like a trivial thing for me to complain about, but because of this way of teaching I have students that get questions wrong in labs when we deal with fungi or plants.

Answer 8

@mrdoldum oh but arent human sex cells haploid? (i know that its not just reproductive cells that are haploid - though i haven't learnt about them - in human)

Answer 9

i was referring to human ones specifically

Answer 10

@somy Yes, but the question does not specify the source of the gametes, nor the count of the autosomal cells. I feel compelled to point out that the answers are true, if and only if the autosomal chromosome count is diploid. Teaching it as if haploid and half the autosome ploidy are the same can lead to errors in understanding.

Answer 11

oh i see
i didnt consider that
Im sorry T_T @mrdoldum

Answer 12

@Somy I have a pet peeve about this because I am a Mycologist and many fungi are not only above 2n, they can even have two completely distinct nuclei in a single cell. These nuclei can be identical copies or not, different chromosome count, and sometimes even from a different species.

Answer 13

yeah i've studied about fungi a bit in microbiology courses @mrdoldum i get it more or less
yeah you are absolutely right, this one is my error T_T i took it as referring to human cells as im studying in that area more (1st year med student)