In an organism with 23 homologous chromosome pairs eg human

In an organism with 23 homologous chromosome pairs (e.g. human), how many different types of gametes can be formed?

Solution

Mendel’s law of independent assortment states that, during meiosis, each member of a pair of genes on homologous chromosomes tends to be randomly distributed into gametes independently of how other chromosomes are distributed. It results in giving all possible combinations in equal frequency. The frequency of occurrence of allele combinations by independent assortment is calculated by the number of allele combinations to the power of number of pairs of chromosome. For example, in a human cell, 23 pairs of chromosomes would produce, 2²³ (8, 388608) combinations by independent assortment.