A somatic cell of an animal has 18 chromosomes.
If a somatic cell of this animal is divided by mitosis, how many chromosomes would each daughter cell contain?

Answer

To solve the question step by step, we can follow this reasoning:

### Step 1: Understand the type of cell
The question states that we are dealing with a somatic cell. Somatic cells are the non-reproductive cells in an organism and they divide by a process called mitosis.

**Hint:** Remember that somatic cells are responsible for growth and repair in the body.

### Step 2: Identify the number of chromosomes in the somatic cell
The problem states that the somatic cell has 18 chromosomes. This means that it is a diploid cell, which contains two sets of chromosomes.

**Hint:** Diploid cells have two complete sets of chromosomes, one from each parent.

### Step 3: Understand the process of mitosis
Mitosis is a type of cell division that results in two daughter cells that are genetically identical to the parent cell. During mitosis, the number of chromosomes is maintained; that is, the daughter cells will have the same number of chromosomes as the parent cell.

**Hint:** Mitosis preserves the chromosome number in the daughter cells.

### Step 4: Calculate the number of chromosomes in the daughter cells
Since the parent somatic cell has 18 chromosomes and it divides by mitosis, each daughter cell will also have 18 chromosomes.

**Hint:** The chromosome number remains constant during mitosis.

### Conclusion
Each daughter cell will contain 18 chromosomes.

**Final Answer:** Each daughter cell will have 18 chromosomes.

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