Fruit flies have eight pairs of chromosomes. Calculate the genetic possibilities from independent assortment of a zygote made from two fruit fly parents. Show your work and the formula you used to make your calculation.

2n = 28

2 * 2 * 2 * 2 * 2 * 2 * 2 * 2 = 256

256 * 256 = 65,536

256

Explanation:

If there are 2 pairs of chromosomes Aa and Bb, there are 4 possibilities for independent assortment of gametes:

A w B, aith with b, A with b and a with B.

If there are 3 pairs of chromosomes Aa, Bb and Cc, there are 8 possibilities:

ABC, abc, ABc, Abc, aBC, aBc, abC, AbC

This corresponds to 2^n, where n = the number of chromosomes.

Therefore, with 8 chromosomes, the possibilities are 2^8 = 256

This is for each parent.