Flashcards · Biology · Selective Breeding and Genetic Engineering
Selective Breeding
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What is selective breeding?
Humans choosing which organisms breed, to produce desired characteristics.
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What is another name for selective breeding?
Artificial selection.
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What are the steps of selective breeding?
Choose parents, breed them, select the best offspring, and repeat.
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Why must it be repeated for many generations?
The characteristic only becomes stronger gradually.
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Give two characteristics selected in crops.
Disease resistance, large fruit or high yield.
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Give two characteristics selected in animals.
High milk yield, fast growth or good wool.
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Which wild plant gave cabbage, broccoli and kale?
Wild cabbage.
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What is the main drawback of selective breeding for a population?
Reduced genetic variation.
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What is inbreeding?
Breeding between close relatives.
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Why is inbreeding harmful?
It increases the chance that harmful recessive alleles come together.
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Give an example of a problem caused by selective breeding in dogs.
Breathing problems in short-faced breeds, or hip disease.
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What is the difference between natural and artificial selection?
In natural selection the environment chooses, and in artificial selection people choose.
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Why can a lack of variation be dangerous in a crop?
A single disease could kill all of the plants.
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Can selective breeding create new alleles?
No. It can only use the variation that already exists.
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Why is selective breeding slow?
It takes many generations to produce a change.
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What is the common mistake about selective breeding?
Thinking that individuals change. Only the proportion of alleles in the population changes.