Question

Most of the nucleated cells in a multicellular organism contain all of the genetic information for the organism. Which of the following cells does not fall into this category?
Parenchymal cell
Nerve cell
Epithelial cell
Sperm cell

Answer 1

Answer: Sperm cell

Explanation:

Amongst all the 4 options given, only the Sperm cell is a gamete (sex cell) while all the three are somatic cells.

• A somatic cell is the one which forms the body of an organism and contains all the genetic information.

• A gamete is the one which is required for the purpose of fertilization. A gamete of male fuses with the gamete of female in a process called fertilization to form a zygote to give rise to a new individual.

• A Sperm cell is basically a male gamete. It contains only half the amount of genetic information as the other half is contributed by the female gamete.

• This difference in the amount of genetic information arises due to the type of cell division that occurs. The somatic cells undergo mitosis whereas a gamete requires meiosis to occur for its formation.

• During mitosis there is a single round of cell division which divides the parent cell into two daughter cells each with the complete genetic information.

• During meiosis the cell undergoes two rounds of cell division such that a total lf 4 cells are produced each with half the amount of genetic material as present in the parent cell.

Since, sperm is a male gamete and is formed by meiosis it contains only half the genetic information as compared to the other cells.