What Does diploid Mean
Diploid is a cell , organism, or tissue that has two sets of chromosomes . The chromosomes , meanwhile, are corpuscles aspect rod in which is distributed chromatin belonging to the cell nucleus in the process of meiosis and mitosis .
To understand the concept of diploid, therefore, other notions must be defined. Mitosis and meiosis are processes of cell division; Chromatin is the group of proteins, histones and DNA found in the nucleus of eukaryotic cells and that make up the eukaryotic chromosome .
Let's see what diploid cells are . These are those cells that have a double series of chromosomes since they have two sets of them. This feature makes it possible to distinguish diploid cells from gametes, which are cells made up of a single set of chromosomes (they only have one version of the genetic data). The gamete, at fertilization, fuses with a gamete belonging to the opposite gender to form the zygote.
The diploid cells of humans have 46 chromosomes (double series of 23). Gametes, which originate through germ cell meiosis, dispose of half (ie 23).
The mutations chromosomal , also known as chromosome aberrations are variations in the quantity or structure of a chromosome. These errors occur during the structuring of gametes through meiosis (a process known as gametogenesis) or in the divisions that develop first in the zygote. The alterations can be caused by the breaking of the DNA chain, for example.
While a diploid cell is composed of an even number of chromosomes, a haploid cell contains a single set of chromosomes or half the number established as normal in diploid cells. In the case of reproductive cells, both ovules and sperm, in the case of mammals, are of the haploid type, while the rest of the cells of organisms contain a pair, half contributed by the mother and the other by the dad.
Reproduction in bees
It is worth mentioning that in the different species the fertilization process tends to differ. In the case of bees , for example, there are various forms of fertilization , which result in clearly distinguishable individuals: workers, drones and queens .
If a diploid ovum is produced by meiosis , that is to say that through asexual reproduction (because the ovum is fertilized without the need for the sperm to intervene) the bee can produce female gametes. If, on the other hand, fertilization is carried out by a male and produces sperm by mitosis, these will be fertilized by the haploid eggs of the queen and the result will be a worker bee.
The Queen will lay three kinds of eggs , one of them diploid and the other two haploid. In other words, the former, those that have been fertilized, will be future queens, while the latter, the eggs that have not been fertilized, will be workers, the female ones , and drones, the male ones. Each one will have an indisputable task in the life of the hive, the former will work and feed the larvae while the latter will be future candidates to mate the queen.
If of all the eggs that the queen lays, none of the fertilized ones are born, the survival of the hive will be threatened , because the workers cannot reproduce, they are infertile and their reproductive organs have been atrophied by means of the pheromonal control of the acid. oxo-decenoic produced in the Queen's mandibular glands. It is worth saying that in the event that it dies, after a few weeks, the pheromone will be released and the workers will be able to begin to develop their ovaries and possibly even lay eggs, however they cannot be fertilized by the males , so that the individuals that are born from them will all be males.
Cabe mencionar que la fecundación de las abejas es asexual ya que la reina en el acto reproductivo recibe el esperma del macho y lo guarda en un habitáculo que recibe el nombre espermateca, pero la fecundación se realizará más tarde, al poner los huevos.