Most plant and animal cells are diploid, having two sets of chromosomes — one from each parent.

Triploidy is a polyploid genetic condition in which there are three sets of chromosomes instead of the normal two. A number of of common agricultural crops have been improved using triploidy — seedless watermelon, bananas, and navel oranges for example.

Triploid oysters (and other shellfish) are reproductively sterile — incapable of normal sexual maturation. This sterility leads to improved meat quality in the summer, when diploid oysters spawn, and improved growth rates under most conditions.

Mitosis is the process of cell division that enables organisms to grow and reproduce. Through a sequence of steps, replicated genetic material, cytoplasm and organelles in a parent cell are equally divided into two daughter cells.