is every sperm cell nearly identical and just connects and mixes differently with the egg or does it work like that meme image where every sperm cell is capable of creating vastly different human beings? i know it sounds dumb, im just having late evening thoughts and wanted to leave one here. thanks upfront 🙂
edit: after reading the replies i realise i should have just left that question in my head. i understand the general biology of it all, just didnt stop to think about it before posting. as i said, slow brain evening thoughs…yea, it makes sense, thanks people. lol
In: Biology
Sperm & eggs are vastly different individually because of the random combination, swapping, etc. going on when cells divide genetic material to multiply.
Healthy normal humans have 23 pairs of chromosomes. The last one determines sex.
Men have XY, women have XX. Egg cells can only have X. Sperm cells can have X or Y.
(There are some people who have extras of either X or Y, or other chromosomes, but they are usually sterile & sometimes short-lived, often with health problems.)
>sperm cell nearly identical
That is where you are thinking incorrectly:. Meiosis produces largely unique gametes with some combination from the pairs of chromosomes in the parent cells.
you have 23 chromosomsets, each set has 2 chromosoms (if you are healthy) one set from your mom and one from your dad, try imagine it like 1a and 1b, 2a and 2b, and so on til 22a and 22b, 23 is x and y (female and male setting)
now a spermcell is not a normal cell like a skincell, it has only a half set of each chromosom (a OR b) so you have a lot of variations just in a sperm cell, and the same goes for the eggcell
short: there are a lot of variations if you just breed 2 humans for a child
edit: english is not my mothertongue, if i misspelled something or if it seems not understandeble enough ask for it
You should read up more on human reproduction.
The short of it, is that sperm cells are not identical. They are similar in genetic composition, but every time a gamete is formed, it gets half of a shuffled version of the DNA of the person.
Technically you’re passing your genes, but not all of them.
Imagine you have two genes that code for a trait differently, lets call them A and B. Say, that every time there is A in the genome, B is not expressed, or is expressed less. After recombination, A could be passed 50% of the time, as well as B, or a combination of them. In this case, a child could be getting either trait, or both from a parent.
That’s where the difference comes from.
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