High School

In an organism with a chromosome complement of 2N = 24, how many possible chromosomal arrangements does independent assortment produce?

A. 12
B. 24
C. 26
D. 212
E. 122
F. 62

Answer :

B. 24, possible chromosomal arrangements does independent assortment produce.

Independent assortment is a mechanism of genetic recombination that occurs during the formation of gametes (sperm and eggs) in sexually reproducing organisms. It results in the random assortment of alleles (alternative forms of a gene) during the process of crossing over, which leads to the formation of genetically diverse gametes.

In an organism with a chromosome complement of 2N = 24, there are 24 pairs of homologous chromosomes. Each pair of homologous chromosomes can have two different alleles for each gene, resulting in 2²⁴ = 16,807,008 possible combinations of alleles.