A seed that lands in the forest soil is homozygous mutant for the LEAFY (LFY) gene, and as a result does not produce any functional LEAFY protein. What do you predict will happen during the development of this seed?
A. It will germinate and grow vegetatively, but will never produce flowers.
B. It will fail to germinate.
C. It will germinate and immediately produce flowers.
D. It will germinate and grow vegetatively. It will only develop flowers if it is from a species regulated by the autonomous flowering pathway.
Clarify Question
What is the key concept addressed by the question?
What type of thinking is required?
Gather Content
What do you already know about flowering and the LEAFY gene? What other information is related to the question?
Choose Answer
Given what you now know, what information is most likely to produce the correct answer?
Reflect on Process
Did your problem-solving process lead you to the correct answer? If not, where did the process break down or lead you astray? How can you revise your approach to produce a more desirable result?
A. It will germinate and grow vegetatively, but will never produce flowers.
Clarify Question
What is the key concept addressed by the question?
· This question is asking you to analyze the effects of the inheritance of mutated copies of the LEAFY gene.
What type of thinking is required?
· Analyze level:
o This is an analyze question because you have to break a mutation in the LEAFY gene and plant development into their component pieces to understand how they function.
Gather Content
What do you already know about flowering and the LEAFY gene? What other information is related to the question?
· Flowers are necessary for reproduction in angiosperms.
· The non-mutated form of the LEAFY gene is necessary for flower development.
· If overexpressed, the LEAFY gene can lead to early flower production.
Choose Answer
Given what you now know, what information is most likely to produce the correct answer?
· Since the LEAFY gene is involved in flower production, mutated forms of this gene will not prevent germination and vegetative growth.
· The autonomous pathway is amplified by normal LEAFY expression, so it would be unaffected by this mutant form of the gene.
· Since the individual in this example is a homozygous mutant for lack of the LEAFY protein, this individual will not produce flowers.
Reflect on Process
Did your problem-solving process lead you to the correct answer? If not, where did the process break down or lead you astray? How can you revise your approach to produce a more desirable result?
· Analyze level:
o Answering this question correctly depended not only on distinguishing between normal and mutant forms of the LEAFY gene, but on your ability to analyze the effects of this gene on a growing plant. If you got an incorrect answer, did you remember that the LEAFY gene is necessary for flower production, or that the plant in this example had a mutation that stopped the expression of this gene? Did you have trouble breaking down the function of the LEAFY gene to determine the correct answer?
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The branch of biology known as evolutionary-developmental biology involves the study of:
A. the development of multicellularity. B. how mechanisms of development have been influenced by evolution. C. cell-cell communication. D. cell adhesion molecules.
The male and female reproductive systems of an adult each include
A) gonads, tubes, gametes, hormones and secretions. B) ambiguous structures that give rise to male or female structures at puberty. C) spermatids, polar bodies, and oocytes. D) 200 to 600 million spermatocytes and a few thousand oocytes.
In the figure above, what would be the
genotype of plant #9?
a. Aabb b. aaBb c. AaBB d. AABB e. aaBB
Which is a basic difference between gymnosperms and flowering plants?
a. Gymnosperms produce “naked” ovules, while flowering plants produce “naked” seeds. b. Gymnosperms produce only cones, while flowering plants produce both flowers and cones. c. Gymnosperms produce seeds that are enclosed within a fruit, while flowering plants produce seeds borne naked. d. Gymnosperms produce seeds borne naked, while flowering plants produce seeds enclosed within a fruit. e. Gymnosperms produce flowers that have floral parts arranged in threes, or multiples of threes, while flowering plants have floral parts arranged in fours or in multiples of four.