If a cell contains 12 chromosomes at the end of meiosis 1, how many chromosomes will the daughter cells.....?

Question

contain t the end of meiosis 2?

3

6

12

24

Answer 1

24 it always doubles

Answer 2

Due to the way you've worded and punctuated your question, it is difficult to tell about which cell you are asking.

Is the cell you are asking about (you said, "If a cell"...) the body cell that will be going through meiosis?  OR is the cell you're asking about the reproductive cell (gamete), the sperm or egg?  

If the cell is the body cell and it contains 12 chromosomes, then the daughter cells will contain only 6.  If the cell you are talking about is one of the daughter cells that are actually at the end of the first meiotic division, then those daughter cells will EACH have 12 chromosomes as they came from body cells that had 24.  

Regardless of the lack of clarity in your question, you can determine the answer based on the purpose of meiosis.  The purpose of meiosis is to reduce the chromosome number to half of the original number found in body cells.  Chromosome number reduction is important as when the sperm (which contains only half the original amount) fertilizes the egg (which, due to meiosis, also contains only half the original amount), the chromosome count would return to the normal amount.

This reduction occurs during the first of the meiotic phases, in particular during Anaphase I.  So, the number of chromosomes at the end of meiosis phases I is HALF of the original amount.

In a human somatic (body) cell, which includes the cells in the ovaries or testes that will go through meiosis, there are 46 chromosomes.  That number, due to meiosis, is cut in half, to 23.  So, in fertilization the sperm contributes 23 chromosomes to the egg which also carries 23 chromosomes.  When the egg is fertilized the chromosome number then returns to 46.

Answer 3

24