Practice question

Endopolyploidy refers to somatic cells within a normally diploid organism that undergo repeated DNA replication without mitosis or cytokinesis, called endoreduplication. Chromosome copies accumulate, forming polytene or polyploid nuclei exceeding 2n. Human liver hepatocytes frequently become tetraploid or octaploid, boosting metabolic capacity for protein synthesis and detoxification. Similar endopolyploidy appears in Drosophila salivary glands, plant endosperm, and mammalian megakaryocytes and trophoblasts. It differs from germline polyploidy because it is tissue-specific, developmentally programmed, and not transmitted to offspring through gametes at all.