Our body contains many different types of cells and each of those cells have their own DNA (correct me if wrong) like skin cells their own DNA that makes them skin cells instead of muscle cells.
So my question is what DNA does a human pass down in a sperm or egg cell? Is it a specialised DNA imprint from which our whole body can be created?
Answer
Most cells in a human body contain a complete set of the genome, which is two sets of 23 chromosomes. Having two of each chromosome is called diploidy.
Within an individual human the DNA is approximately identical in every cell. Different cells are produced by differential use of that DNA: certain genes are more (or less) highly expressed etc. You can read more about that here.
You inherit one copy of each chromosome from each parent. Gametes (eggs and sperm) are a bit different from regular cells because they contain one copy of each chromosome; they are haploid. These gametes fuse to make the complete set of 23 pairs in the offspring. There are some exceptions such as cytoplasmic DNA and sex chromosomes.
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