What is diploid?

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‘Diploid’ refers to cells that contain two sets of chromosomes.  Each set of these chromosomes are exactly the same with the other cell.  The prefix ‘di’ in ‘diploid’ means ‘two,’ and this refers to the two sets of chromosomes.  As for human beings and animals, most cells in the body are classified as diploid cells.  Aside from diploid cells, there may also be haploid and tetraploid cells.  Haploid cells contain only one set of chromosomes while tetraploid cells contain four sets.

Genes or genetic components are part of cells including diploid cells.  When a particular diploid cell, for example, divides, the resulting cells will also have the same two sets of chromosomes.  Diploid cells are also able to produce new organisms given favorable and perfect conditions.  It is also typical for diploid cells to continuously divide or multiply until the eventual death of a particular organism.  The cell multiplication or division involved in diploid cells can be observed when a particular organism grows and develops from being young to becoming old until this organism dies.  Aside from dividing into different diploid cells, though, there are also instances that one diploid cell will divide into two haploid cells.  This means that the cells produced will only have one set of chromosomes.  This process can especially be observed with gametes or reproductive cells wherein one haploid cell, like the sperm cell, will conceive with another haploid cell, like the egg cell, which is the ovum, which will form a blastocyst after fertilization.  This particular ovum will then only have one set of chromosomes that are specific to it and taken from the parent haploid cells.

The cell division and multiplication involved in diploid cells is called mitosis.  Through this process, the cells produced from parent diploid cells will have exactly the same two sets of chromosomes.  Most cells in the human body are composed of diploid cells including the cells of the skin and muscles.  Reproductive cells, meanwhile, are the only haploid type of cells in the human body.

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