Skip to main content

The Tetrad

This video presents the same text shown beside it, spoken and on screen. It adds nothing the text does not say.

State

A tetrad is a pair of homologous chromosomes, four chromatids total, held together by chiasmata after crossing over in prophase I.

Show

Each of a cell's 23 homologous pairs forms one tetrad, so a human cell in prophase I holds 23 tetrads.

Watch for

A tetrad's four chromatids are not four separate chromosomes — separation is still divisions away.