Cell Biology Interview Question:

Do phylogenetically proximal species have cells with proximal chromosome counts?

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The number of chromosomes typical of each species is proximal for phylogenetically proximal species (for example, orangutan, gorilla, chimpanzee and human). But it is not impossible that evolutionary distant species, like rat and oat, bears similar karyotypes and the same total number of chromosomes.

Even presenting equal number of chromosomes evolutionary distant species have radically different characteristics since the quantity and the sequence of nucleotides that compose their respective DNA molecules are quite different.
Submitted by: Administrator