Of the 23 pairs of chromosomes in a human somatic cell, the number of pairs of autosomes is

Explanation

Twenty two pairs are autosomes, which carry the genes for body characters and are identical in appearance in both sexes, and the remaining pair are the sex chromosomes, XX in a female and XY in a male. The figure 44 is the total number of individual autosomes rather than the number of pairs, which is the usual careless error. A gamete carries 22 autosomes plus one sex chromosome.