Humans normally have ______ number of pairs of autosomes.

Question

Question

This question was previously asked in

SSC GD Previous Paper 34 (Held On: 11 March 2019 Shift 1)_English

Answer 1

The correct answer is 22.

Key Points

Humans normally have 22 pairs of autosomes.
An autosome is any of the numbered chromosomes, as opposed to the sex chromosomes.
All the chromosomes other than the sex hormones are autosomes.
- Chromosomes is a thread-like structure found in the nucleus.
- It becomes visible during cell division.
- In Humans, there are 23 pairs of chromosomes in total (46 chromosomes)
22 pairs of autosomes (total 44) and one pair of allosomes.
An allosome is a sex chromosome that differs in size, form, and behaviour from an autosome.

Confusion Points

We actually have a total of 23 pairs of chromosomes in these cells, for a total of 46 chromosomes, but two of those are referred to by letter rather than by number and are called sex chromosomes rather than autosomes since they--that is the X and Y chromosome--help determine what sex, or gender, we are.

Additional Information

Humans have one pair of allosomes.
X and Y are the one pair of sex chromosomes.
These chromosomes contain genes that determine the biological sex of an organism.
In the XY sex-determination system, the female-provided ovum contributes an X chromosome.
The male-provided sperm contributes either an X chromosome or a Y chromosome.
Thus resulting in female (XX) or male (XY) offspring, respectively.