You examine a worm that has two genders: males that produce sperm and

hermaphrodites that produce both sperm and eggs. The diploid adult has four

homologous pairs of chromosomes that undergo very little recombination. Given

a choice, the hermaphrodites prefer to mate with males, but just to annoy the

worm, you pluck a hermaphrodite out of the wild and fertilize its eggs with its

own sperm. Assuming that all the resulting offspring are viable, what fraction do

you expect to be genetically identical to the parent worm? Assume that each

chromosome in the original hermaphrodite is genetically distinct from its

homolog.

(a) all

(b) none

(c) 1/16

(d) 1/256

Question

Isla Hendricks

Biology

11 December, 01:19

You examine a worm that has two genders: males that produce sperm and

hermaphrodites that produce both sperm and eggs. The diploid adult has four

homologous pairs of chromosomes that undergo very little recombination. Given

a choice, the hermaphrodites prefer to mate with males, but just to annoy the

worm, you pluck a hermaphrodite out of the wild and fertilize its eggs with its

own sperm. Assuming that all the resulting offspring are viable, what fraction do

you expect to be genetically identical to the parent worm? Assume that each

chromosome in the original hermaphrodite is genetically distinct from its

homolog.

(a) all

(b) none

(c) 1/16

(d) 1/256

+2

Answers (1)

Know the Answer?

Neil Roach · Answer 1

Option (c).

Explanation:

Hermaphrodites may be defined as the organism that contains both the sperm and eggs in the same individual. Generally, worms and simple body organisms are hermaphrodites.

The worm sperm and eggs are fertilized with each other and all the resulting offspring are living. Almost, 1/16 individual are genetically identical to the parent worm as the homologous chromosome are distinct from each other in hermaphrodite.

Thus, the correct answer is option (c).