Cloning And Selective Breeding

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What is Asexual and sexual reproduction? Asexual: Asexual reproduction is reproduction by one single parent so it doesn’t need a partner to create an offspring. It inherits the genes and traits from that parent only. The reproduction doesn’t use meiosis or fertilization as it is not needed. It is meant for single celled organisms. For example in bacteria does not need two parents to creates and offspring, only one parent is required. Advantages: 1. large numbers of offspring are reproduced very quickly from only one parent when conditions are favorable. 2. Large colonies can form that can out-complete other organisms for nutrients and water. 3. Large number of organisms mean that species may survive when conditions or the number of predators change. Disadvantages: 1. Hard for species to evolve/ and or vary. 2. Most species that asexually reproduce are small organisms (single celled bacteria or protists), although there are some plants that are known to asexually reproduce. Sexual: Sexual reproduction is producing a new organism by combining the genes, traits etc from BOTH organisms (parents). The process involves meiosis – having the exact number of chromosomes from both parents (23 from each). It also includes fertilization which fuses two of the gametes and the restoration of the original number. When meiosis occurs the chromosomes of each pair crosses over to create homologous pairs. Most animals (including humans) and plants reproduce sexually. Sexually reproducing organisms have two sets of genes for every trait (called alleles). Offspring inherit one allele for each trait from each parent, thereby ensuring that offspring have a combination of the parents' genes. Having two copies of every gene, only one of which is expressed, allows deleterious alleles to be masked, an advantage believed to have led to the evolutionary development of

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