National Science Bee Practice Test

During mitosis, the daughter cells have:

The same chromosome number as the parent cell Twice the chromosome number of the parent cell Half the chromosome number A random chromosome number

Correct Answer:

The same chromosome number as the parent cell

Explanation:

During mitosis, the goal is to distribute an identical set of chromosomes to each daughter cell. The DNA is replicated in S phase, so there are two sister chromatids per chromosome, but when mitosis proceeds, those chromatids are separated so that each daughter cell receives one copy of every chromosome. After cytokinesis, both daughters have the same number of chromosomes as the parent cell (for a diploid organism like humans, 46 in somatic cells). So the chromosome count is preserved across division, even though the DNA content was briefly doubled during replication. This is different from meiosis, where the chromosome number is halved to produce gametes.

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