An organism with two pairs of homologous chromosomes can produce four kinds of gametes (22) and one with three pairs of homologous chromosomes produces eight kinds of gametes (23). A species of fruit fly, D. robusta, has a haploid number of six. If we ignore the effects of crossing-over, how many different chromosome combinations of sperm can a male fruit fly of this species produce?
Since D. robusta has a haploid number of six, a male fruit fly of this species will have 6 homologous chromosomes. Therefore, the male fruit fly can produce 2^6 = 64 different chromosome combinations of sperm.
