Video Transcript
Which of the following statements about asexual reproduction is not correct? (A) Asexual reproduction is generally a fast process. (B) Asexual reproduction does not involve the inheritance of genetic material from a
parent by offspring. (C) Asexual reproduction only involves one parent. Or (D) asexual reproduction does not introduce new genetic variation into a
population.
Reproduction is a biological process by which an organism, or organisms, produce
offspring. Genetic material, or DNA, contains all of the necessary information for life. And reproduction involves the transmission of this DNA from parent to offspring. You might have already learned that there are two types of reproduction: sexual and
asexual. Let’s review some similarities and differences between the two to answer our question
correctly.
Asexual reproduction only involves one parent. This means that we can already eliminate option (C), as we are looking for the answer
choice that is not correct about asexual reproduction. Sexual reproduction, on the other hand, usually involves two parents producing
gametes, or sex cells, which contain half of their genetic material. These gametes, such as the egg cell and sperm cell in humans, then fuse together in
fertilization. This combines the genetic material from these two parents to produce offspring that
are usually genetically different from both parents, though they will share certain
similarities.
In the case of asexual reproduction, as only one parent is involved, it will produce
offspring that are nearly genetically identical. This can be seen as a major drawback of asexual reproduction, as it introduces no
genetic variation into a population. This can make populations that exclusively reproduce asexually less resilient to
environmental changes, like the introduction of new diseases, compared to
populations that can also reproduce sexually. With this information, we can eliminate option (D).
A major benefit of asexual reproduction is that it occurs fairly quickly. Some bacteria are actually able to asexually reproduce in a matter of minutes. This means that we can eliminate option (A).
Now that we have reviewed both types of reproduction, we can figure out the correct
answer to this question. The only incorrect statement regarding asexual reproduction is (B). Asexual reproduction does not involve the inheritance of genetic material from a
parent by offspring.
