Colchicine is a drug that interferes with normal meiotic chromosome segregation. Treated cells will often produce many diploid gametes. If a diploid gamete is fertilized by a normal gamete, what is the resulting offspring's ploidy?1. (4n) Tetraploid2. (3n) Triploid3. (2n) Diploid4. (1n) Haploid

Question

Biology

Bradley Coleman

9 February, 17:34

Colchicine is a drug that interferes with normal meiotic chromosome segregation. Treated cells will often produce many diploid gametes. If a diploid gamete is fertilized by a normal gamete, what is the resulting offspring's ploidy?1. (4n) Tetraploid2. (3n) Triploid3. (2n) Diploid4. (1n) Haploid

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Walter Bray · Answer 1

(3n) Triploid

Explanation:

Colchicine is an alkaloid obtained from the plant Colchicum autumnale. The colchicine is used as a medicine to treat gout but it is also used to increase the ploidy level of the organism especially in the plant breeding.

Colchicine binds to tubulin unit of microtubules involved in the segregation and inhibits the microtubule polymerisation. As a result of this, the chromosome do not separate and if later induced to separate then separates as a whole. This increases the ploidy of the organism.

In the given case, the colchicine treated diploid gamete when fuse with normal haploid gamete increases the ploidy level of the organism and becomes 3n or triploid.

Thus, (3n) Triploid is correct.