how many chromosomes will a zygote have
When an egg and sperm are united during fertilization, the resulting zygote has 23 pairs of homologous chromosomes, one in each pair from the egg and one from the sperm. Thus, the zygote has 46 chromosomes, and when the zygote undergoes mitosis to begin to form an embryo, each cell will have the normal number of 46 chromosomes. Cells that have two copies of each chromosome (i.e. cells that have pairs of homologous chromosomes) are called diploid cells. Most of the cells in our bodies are diploid cells. 17.