Introduction
A chromosome comprises a very long strand of deoxyribonucleic acid, or DNA, and contains many genes ranging from hundreds to thousands. Each chromosome’s genes are ordered in a particular sequence, and the location of each gene is known as a locus. Chromosomes also contain additional chemical elements that impact a gene’s functionality. Knowing that every living being has a certain number of chromosomes, one can think that their number affects the external signs or dimensions of the creature.
Discussion
To understand this issue, we need to consider a few examples. The starting point of support will be a human and its 46 chromosomes. Given the example of a creature with fewer chromosomes, such as a cat, one might think that the number of chromosomes affects the complexity of an organism. However, such a theory is immediately broken if we take the example of a crayfish with as many as 116 chromosomes (Chadarevian, 2020). Thus, it is concluded that the number of chromosomes does not affect the morphology of an animal or a person, but this is also not entirely true.
One of the features of a chromosome is its length; that is, one chromosome can carry several times more information than 20 others (Chadarevian, 2020). I can give an even more contrasting example of a fern, which does not bloom and is a plant, that is, a lower form of life than an animal of 1260 chromosomes (Chadarevian, 2020). Meanwhile, the ant, one of the most organized social animals, has only two chromosomes.
Conclusion
Thus, it turns out that the chromosomes affect the organism’s complexity, not by number, as in the first assumption, but by length. Human chromosomes contain much information; therefore, a deviation of even one chromosome due to a mutation causes substantial differences from an ordinary person, as is the case with Down syndrome.
Reference
Chadarevian, S. de. (2020). Heredity under the microscope: Chromosomes and the study of the human genome. The University of Chicago Press.