Biology / Unit 5 Bio 0989 short lesson, about 20 seconds
Independent Assortment of Tetrads as a Source of Genetic Variation
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The idea
Independent assortment lets each tetrad's maternal-versus-paternal orientation at metaphase I vary separately, so a human cell can produce over eight million distinct chromosome combinations.
In practice
With 23 independently oriented tetrads, the number of possible combinations is two raised to the twenty-third power.
Where people slip
Independent assortment, Bio 0973's independent orientation renamed for its variation role, shuffles whole chromosomes — crossing over shuffles within one.
Your place on the trail
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Builds on
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