How many autosomes are in a karyotype?

1 Answer
May 2, 2015

The karyotype is the number , size and shape of chromosomes there are in a cell, it includes the autosome and the sex chromosomes.

The number of chromosomes in a species is specific to that species . There fore the number of autosomes is also specific for that particular species. It is the karyotype number less the number of sex chromosomes.

For example in a human cell there are 46 chromosomes, which exist as 23 pairs of chromosomes. 46 is the karyotype. The 23 pairs include 22 pairs of autosome said and the pair of sex chromosomes. The sex chromosomes are called the X and Y chromosomes because of their shape. These chromosomes determine whether an individual is male or female.

Try and find out the sex of an individual if they carry XX or XY. Chromosomes. One is male the other is female.

A tiger has a karyotype number of 38 so it has 36 autosomes found as 18 pairs.
What would be the autosome number of a species that has a karyotype number of 48, like a chimpanzee.