Would meiosis, when it was discovered, have been understood without Mendel's work? Explain why or why not,
using Mendel's three key findings about inheritance.
What will be an ideal response?
ANSWER: No, meiosis would not have been understood without Mendel's work to explain why the
chromosome movements and interactions were taking place. Mendel discovered the
fundamental patterns of inheritance, such as an individual having two alleles for a single trait,
one allele coming from each parent. This was followed by the patterns of dominance which
would explain why phenotypes could change over generations even though individuals were
closely related to each other. Furthermore, Mendel’s principle of segregation explained why
meiosis, and not mitosis, was necessary for the formation of gametes. The importance of
Mendel's work cannot be overstated as it is the foundation upon which all of modern genetics
rests.
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The most likely identification of an anaerobic gram-positive bacillus that produces spores is:
a. Bifidobacterium. b. Eubacterium. c. Eggerthella. d. Clostridium.
A gamete having more than one complete set of chromosomes
A. cannot be produced by meiosis. B. cannot participate in fertilization. C. is polyploid. D. will undergo mitosis. E. is not yet through meiosis.
The most parsimonious phylogeny is the one that minimizes the number of evolutionary transitions among phenotypic states
a. true b. false
Bacterial cell walls are primarily composed of which of the following?
A) phospholipid protein B) protein C) carbohydrate D) peptidoglycan