Why does repeated selective breeding take generations?
- The selected parents must gradually change their own inherited alleles before breeding.
- The wanted trait must first become dominant before breeders can assess the offspring.
- Breeders must breed and assess offspring before selecting the next parents.
Which actions do breeders repeat when selecting for a heritable trait?
- Select suitable parents, breed them, assess offspring and select again.
- Select suitable parents, breed them, then keep offspring without assessing the wanted trait.
- Select suitable parents once, then let later generations breed without further selection.
Why can mating close relatives increase the risk of an autosomal recessive condition in their offspring?
- A harmful recessive allele becomes dominant when both parents have shared ancestry.
- They are more likely to share the same harmful recessive allele.
- An unaffected relative cannot carry the allele, so appearance identifies safe pairings.
Why is selecting unmodified E. coli insufficient to make them produce human insulin?
- They lack the human insulin-coding DNA that the engineering step supplies.
- They already carry human insulin-coding DNA, but selecting faster growth leaves it inactive.
- They already make human insulin, but selection cannot separate it from other bacterial proteins.
Scientists edit an existing maize DNA sequence in a laboratory without adding DNA from another species. Which statement fits?
- This is selective breeding because the change uses only DNA already present in maize.
- This is genetic engineering because the DNA is changed directly.
- This is selective breeding because genetic engineering requires DNA from another species.
Which pair gives a benefit and a concern for Bt maize?
- Less damage from certain pests; maize pollen could pass the allele to any nearby plant species.
- Protection from every insect pest; pollen could spread the allele to plants compatible with maize.
- Less damage from certain pests; pollen could spread the allele to compatible plants.
A herd has been bred from a few close relatives. Tests find a frequent harmful recessive allele. Which plan best targets this allele's risk in future calves while retaining other wanted traits?
- Use unrelated tested non-carriers and assess their other wanted traits before breeding.
- Use unrelated animals without allele tests and assess their other wanted traits before breeding.
- Use only fast, unaffected relatives without allele tests, keeping the herd's current breeding line.
A grower crosses unmodified cultivated wheat with compatible unmodified wild wheat and selects offspring. No DNA is directly edited or inserted in a laboratory. Is this genetic engineering?
- Yes. Combining DNA from cultivated and wild parents makes any such cross genetic engineering.
- No. Choosing crosses and offspring is selective breeding.
- Yes. Selecting a particular inherited trait counts as direct DNA editing even without laboratory work.