Concept explainers
To explain: Whether it seems likely that a “gene therapy” program might be able to correct the genetic problems and help cheetahs make a comeback.
Introduction: Inbreeding is a type of mating mechanism where two very closely related organisms of a single species (siblings or between child and a parent) mate and produce offspring. Inbreeding is illegal for Homo sapiens. Inbreeding decreases the hybrid vigor and often results in spontaneous abortion or death of the offspring before sexual maturity. It is very rare that the offspring of inbred parents attain sexual maturity and procreates. Inbreeding accumulates lethal mutations in the offspring.
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- An island of the Galápagos archipelago is home to a medium ground finch that subsists mainly by eating seeds. A severe drought struck the island. During the drought, plants produced fewer seeds, and the finches soon depleted the stock of small and soft seeds, leaving only large and hard seeds that were difficult to process. In this environment, finches with deeper beaks were more likely to survive and pass their advantageous traits to their offspring by means of the principle called the 'inheritance of acquired characteristics'. Question 11 options: A) True B) Falsearrow_forwardFrom the 1700s to the early 1950s there was an unusually high percentage of deaf people on the island of Martha’s Vineyard off the coast of Massachusetts, USA.Deafness was a recessive hereditary trait, and there was a very small population of people living on the island. This meant that almost everyone had both deaf and hearing siblings. In the mid-1850s, the frequency of deaf people on the island was well over 30% higher than the U.S. national average.The high frequency of deaf individuals on the island of Martha’s Vineyard is best explained by Select one: a. genetic drift b. founder effect c. non-random mating d. bottleneck effectarrow_forwardIn a populationof manatees, short whiskers are recessive to long whiskers. There are estimated to be only 4387 manatee left in the world. Of these, 827 have short whiskers. What is the frequency of homozygous recessive individuals?arrow_forward
- In the bighorn sheep population of North America, what would happen if all of the large-bodied, large-horned males were hunted, leaving only small-bodied, small-horned sheep? a)Males could no longer protect females from predators, so eventually all of the sheep would be eaten by predators. b)There would be no phenotypic variation in the population of sheep, and natural selection could not lead to males with larger horns in the future. C)The size of horns would no longer be a heritable traits, and would males would not pass this trait to their offspring. d)Males would begin to use their horns for other behaviors, such as hunting prey or being better competitors.arrow_forward2) The year is 2050. The climate has continued to warm. Areas in northern Canada and Alaska are without snow or ice; the average annual temperature has risen and previously snow-covered areas are now shrub land and some temperate forests. What effect would such a climatic change have on the gene pool of the rabbits? All BUT ONE could apply. A) The allelic frequency has most likely shifted to 85% GG and 15% gg. B) The dominant allele in the gene pool would become G, the previously rare allele. C) The allele for white, g, would be scarce and perhaps nonexistent in the population. D) White rabbits would be at a disadvantage in terms of camouflage and would likely fall prey to predators.arrow_forwardThe Scarborough shoal in the South China sea is home to the Peliotsky turtle. A recessive mutation "floppy" is known in the turtle which interferes with normal flipper growth and makes the turtle less mobile and unable to survive severe storms. In 2008 a sample survey of a large, freely interbreeding, population of turtles found 47 individuals with the mutant phenotype out of a population of 341 individuals. a) Calculate the frequencies of the recessive and dominant alleles in the turtle population.arrow_forward
- Another mutation has occurred in the Andean condor, which is further endangering the survival of the species: Frizzled feathers. This trait results from a mutation in the a-keratin gene, and this mutation causes the feathers to curl. If two frizzled condors happen to mate, rather than producing offspring with frizzled feathers, one observes that 25% of the condor chicks have normal (straight) feathers; 50% have frizzled (curly) feathers, and an unfortunate 25% have “over-frizzled” feathers, which are extremely brittle and resemble pipe cleaners. Birds having this “over-frizzle” trait have great difficulty flying. When a condor that is homozygous for the normal feather allele is mated with one of these “over-frizzled” birds, all of the chicks will have frizzled feathers. Please NAME and EXPLAIN the genetic phenomenon described here.arrow_forwardIn parts of equatorial Africa, where the malaria parasite is most common, the sickle-cell allele constitutes 20% of the ß-hemoglobin alleles in the human gene pool. The sickle cell trait provides an advantage against malaria compared to people with normal hemoglobin. In the United States, the parasite that causes malaria is not present, but African Americans whose ancestors were from equatorial Africa have the sickle-cell B- hemoglobin allele. These differences in traits illustrate O inclusive fitness because people have evolved molecular differences to adapt to environmental stimuli O inclusive fitness because ß-hemoglobin increases the proliferation of beneficial traits in the population O relative fitness because people have evolved molecular differences to an environmental pathogen O relative fitness because the molecular differences in ß-hemoglobin are passed to the next generationarrow_forwardAn hypothesis for the extinction of the dinosaurs is that the earth had been hit by a gigantic meteor that caused the death of those big reptiles. In that case the entire genetic pool of those animals has been destroyed, invalidating the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. In Genetics what is this type of gene frequency change called?arrow_forward
- When Homo sapiens migrated out of Africa they encountered a related species, Homo neanderthalensis, and the two species interbred. The percent H. neanderthalensis genes in the F1 progeny was %. After a backcross of an F1 progeny to H. sapiens, the percent H. neanderthalensis genes in the child was %. After a second backcross of a progeny to H. sapiens the percent H. neanderthalensis genes in the child was have genomic DNA sequences of both ancient H. neanderthalensis and modern H. sapiens. The percent H. neanderthalensis genes in the genomes of most modern H. sapiens is approximately %. %. We nowarrow_forwardThe red wolf (Canis rufus) was once widespread in the southeastern United States but was declared to be extinct in the wild. Biologists bred captive red wolf individuals and reintroduced them into areas of eastern North Carolina, where they are federally protected as endangered species. The current wild population is estimated to be about 100 individuals. However, a new threat to red wolves has arisen: hybridization with coyotes (Canis latrans), which have become more numerous in the areas inhabited by red wolves. Although red wolves and coyotes differ in morphology and DNA, they are capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. Social behavior is the main reproductive barrier between the species and is more easily overcome when same-species mates are rare. For this reason, some people think that the endangered status of the red wolf should be withdrawn and resources should not be spent to protect what is not a “pure” species. Do you agree? Why or why not?arrow_forwardTay-Sachs disease is a recessive genetic disease. Individuals with this disease rarely survive past the age of four. In the general population, approximately 1 person in 300 carries the allele for this disease. However, in some populations, including the Irish Americans, the Ashkenazi Jews and the Cajuns from Louisiana, the proportion of Tay-Sachs carriers is much higher (1 in 27 to 1 in 50) than in other populations. Which evolutionary scenario can be predicted to produce a high frequency of Tay-Sachs disease in these populations? Select one: a. All three populations descend from a small number of settlers b. The Tay-Sachs allele is advantageous at the heterozygous state c. These populations experienced disruptive selection d. These populations experienced stabilizing selection e. These populations have higher than average mutation ratesarrow_forward
- Human Biology (MindTap Course List)BiologyISBN:9781305112100Author:Cecie Starr, Beverly McMillanPublisher:Cengage Learning