How does the body produce sperm?
In: Biology
Spermatogenesis is the process by which they are made. Germ cells, with a full set or chromosomes, divide in the seminiferous tubules of the testis to make haploid spermatozoa cells, with only half the chromosomes.
In a super simplified manner sperm cells are created in a fairly similar manner as other body cells are produced.
First off: crash course on DNA.
DNA is like a giant list of instructions that describe how to make you. Each of your cells has a copy of the entire recipe, and your DNA is split in to chromosones, bundles of DNA that hang together, like chapters in a book on how to make you. You have two copies of each chromosome, one from your dad and one from your mom.
The elementary school version of how body cells are made:
1. A mother cell decides it wants to reproduce.
2. Its DNA is copied, giving the cell two full sets of it. The copied chromosomes look like an X, are attached in the middle, and are called chromotids.
3. The entire cell splits down the middle, with half of the DNA going to the left and the other half to the right. The chromotids split apart, forming two identical chromosomes, one for each new cell.
4. the cell split heals, the core is reformed around the cell, and two new cells are born!
So, that’s how normal cells reproduce: but those aren’t sperm cells. For one, they are identical to the mother. Secondly: they have too many genes, they only need half the number (because they intend to match with the other half found in the woman egg).
So, how do sperm cells do it?
1. a parent cell, with a full set of genes, decides it wants to split.
2. The DNA is copied, so there are now two sets of the DNA in the cell.
3. Chromosome pairs (one from your mom, one from your dad) meet and swapping their genes before they separate, essentially mixing together the DNA of your mom and dad. The result is two completely new chromosomes that are a random mixture of the two “parents”.
4. Cell splits down the middle, and each cell gets half of the DNA. You now have two cells that are *not* identical (because the DNA got mixed up to blend together the DNA of your mom and dad) but still has too many genes. Each chromosome still is too large!
5. The core is *not* reformed, like in a normal cell splitting. Instead the cell starts splitting *again* instantly, taking with it half the DNA.
6. at the end of this process you have four cells that each have half of the DNA of a full cell. These half-cells then turn in to sperm cells, ready to fertilize an egg.
There’s a large Cell that divides and divides and divides to form 4 spermatids (1 large cell will make 4 smaller cells)
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