Question Video: Identifying the Incorrect Description of Asexual Reproduction | Nagwa Question Video: Identifying the Incorrect Description of Asexual Reproduction | Nagwa

Question Video: Identifying the Incorrect Description of Asexual Reproduction Science • Third Year of Preparatory School

A student writes the following summary about asexual reproduction: Asexual reproduction is used by one organism to produce new offspring. Asexual reproduction creates offspring that are all genetically different, and it does this quickly. What is incorrect about this statement?

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Video Transcript

A student writes the following summary about asexual reproduction. “Asexual reproduction is used by one organism to produce new offspring.” “Asexual reproduction creates offspring that are all genetically different, and it does this quickly.” What is incorrect about this statement? (A) Asexual reproduction involves two parents, not just one. (B) Asexual reproduction produces genetically identical offspring, not genetically different ones. (C) Asexual reproduction is a slow, time-consuming process, not a quick one.

Let’s start by discussing what reproduction is. Reproduction is a biological process. During reproduction, new organisms are produced from existing organisms. We call these new organisms offspring, and the existing organisms that produce offspring are the parents. We generally distinguish between two types of reproduction: sexual reproduction and asexual reproduction. In sexual reproduction, the gametes, also called sex cells, of typically two parents fuse to create offspring. Because portions of two different genomes, one from each gamete, contribute to the genome of sexually produced offspring, they are genetically different from their parents. Sexual reproduction therefore increases the genetic variation we can find in a population.

In asexual reproduction, a single parent produces offspring without the fusion of gametes. One bacterium can, for example, reproduce asexually through binary fission. These offspring are genetically identical to the parent and to each other and are referred to as clones.

In order to figure out which part of the summary is incorrect, let’s now analyze the text the student wrote. A student starts by writing “Asexual reproduction is used by one organism to produce new offspring.” This is true. The defining feature of asexual reproduction is that there is only one parent involved, which gives rise to new individuals of the same species.

The next part states “Asexual reproduction creates offspring that are all genetically different.” We have just learned that asexual reproduction always produces genetically identical offspring. This means that this part of the summary is the incorrect part.

The final piece of information says “and it does this quickly.” Again, this is true. Asexual reproduction is generally a very quick process. Some bacteria can reproduce asexually in as short a time as 20 minutes.

The incorrect part of the statement is therefore that asexual reproduction produces genetically identical offspring, not genetically different ones.

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