Carol is studying mitosis in her biology class. During a biology lab, she is given information about an unknown organism. What might be the best way to test to see that the organism has undergone mitosis?

Question

Responses
A Carol notices that segregation of homologous chromosomes occurredCarol notices that segregation of homologous chromosomes occurred
B Carol notices that the daughter cells are half the size of the parent cellCarol notices that the daughter cells are half the size of the parent cell
C Carol identifies the number of chromosomes before and after cell division to be 78.Carol identifies the number of chromosomes before and after cell division to be 78.
D Carol identifies 78 chromosomes before cell division and 39 chromosomes after cell division.Carol identifies 78 chromosomes before cell division and 39 chromosomes after cell division.

Answer 1

To determine whether the unknown organism has undergone mitosis, the best way to test would be:

C Carol identifies the number of chromosomes before and after cell division to be 78.

In mitosis, the chromosome number remains constant because the process involves the duplication of chromosomes followed by their segregation into two daughter cells, each with the same number of chromosomes as the original parent cell. Therefore, observing that the number of chromosomes remains the same (78) before and after division would indicate that mitosis has occurred.

Response D would indicate meiosis, as it shows a reduction in chromosome number (from 78 to 39), which is characteristic of meiosis where homologous chromosomes are segregated.