What's the difference between haploid and diploid?

Question

I know haploid is one set (n) and diploid is 2 sets (2n), but i dont understand what exactly is one set and two sets of chromosomes. can anyone help me out?

Answer 1

Diploid=X

Haploid=>, or one chromatid.

Answer 2

Almost all cells in an organism are diploid - they have a pair of each chromosome, hence 2n. Gametes are haploid - 1n - they have only one of each chromosome, so that when they join together to form the first cell of a new individial, that cell will be diploid.

Answer 3

Chromosomes are in pairs. One of a pair is a haploid. Sex cells in sperms and ovaries are in haploid form. The two forming a pair form a diploid. Thus all other cells in the body have the diploid form of the chromosomes.

Answer 4

Maybe the other answers were too technical for you - if not, please forgive me. Almost every creature (there are some exceptions) has a set number of chromosomes, which are found in pairs (2n). Each individual (you included) has 1n of chromosomes from one parent and 1n of chromosomes from the other. In animals that have sexes there is one pair of chromosomes that determines if they are a boy or a girl. Since everything that a cell must do is recorded in the chromosomes, it is useful to have a second copy of everything as there may be a defect in one of the chromosomes, in which case the information on the other can be used as a "backup".

Answer 5

Haploid and monoploidy
The haploid number is the number of chromosomes in a gamete of an individual. This is distinct from the monoploid number which is the number of unique chromosomes in a single complete set.

In humans, the monoploid number (n) equals the haploid number (the number in a gamete, x), that is, x = n = 23. In some species (especially plants), these numbers differ. Commercial common wheat is an allopolyploid with six sets of chromosomes, two sets coming from each of three different species, with six copies of chromosomes in each cell. The gametes of common wheat are considered as haploid since they contain half the genetic information of somatic cells, but are not monoploid as they still contain three complete sets of chromosome from three species of organisms (n = 3x).

Most fungi and a few algae are normally monoploid organisms. Male bees, wasps and ants are also monoploid. For organisms that only ever have one set of chromosomes, the term monoploid is sometimes used interchangeably with haploid, but this is no longer the preferred terminology.

Plants and some algae switch between a haploid and a diploid or polyploid state, with one of the stages emphasized over the other. This is called alternation of generations. Most diploid organisms produce monoploid sex cells that can combine to form a diploid zygote, for example animals are primarily diploid but produce monoploid gametes. During meiosis, germ cell precursors have their number of chromosomes halved by randomly "choosing" one homologue, resulting in haploid germ cells (sperm and ovum).

Diploid
Diploid (2n) cells have two copies (homologs) of each chromosome, usually one from the mother and one from the father. The exact number may be one or two different from the 2n number and still be classified as diploidy (although with aneuploidy). Nearly all mammals are diploid organisms, although all individuals have some small fracton of cells that are polyploidy.

Haplodiploidy
A haplodiploid species is one in which one of the sexes has haploid cells and the other has diploid cells. Most commonly, the male is haploid and the female is diploid. In such species, the male develops from unfertilized eggs, a process called arrhenotokous parthenogenesis or simply arrhenotoky, while the female develops from fertilized eggs: the sperm provides a second set of chromosomes when it fertilizes the egg.

Haplodiploidy is found in many species of insects from the order Hymenoptera, particularly ants, bees, and wasps. One consequence of haplodiploidy is that the relatedness of sisters to each other is higher than in diploids; this has been advanced as an explanation for the eusociality common in this order of insects as it increases the power of kin selection. This argument has been disputed on the grounds that haplodiploidy also reduces the relatedness of brothers to sisters, theoretically balancing the above effect. In some Hymenopteran species, worker insects are also able to produce diploid (and therefore female) fertile offspring, which develop as normal queens. The second set of chromosomes comes not from sperm, but from one of the three polar bodies during anaphase II of meiosis. This process is called thelytokous parthenogenesis or simply thelytoky.

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