Question

16. Explain why a few of the dandelions will not be affected by the herbicide and will continue to grow and reproduce.

17. What is the process of a few of the dandelions being more fit than others in the environment with the herbicide?

Answer 1

16. A few of the dandelions which are resistant to the herbicide is a result of the missense mutations which didnot have any role in the dandelions until herbicides were sprayed onto them. Missense mutations are point mutations that occur in the organims which do not affect the phenotype of the organism much but sometimes when such herbicide tolerance cases show up, this missense mutation will be the selecting mutation that selects the mutated dandelion to the normal dandelion. Hence the dandelion will continue to grow.

17. The process of a few of the dandelions being more fit than others in the environment with the herbicide is an outcome of the missense mutation that stayed dormant until acted upon by the herbicide stress. In missense mutation, a small change in the protein takes place which is doesnt affect the normal protein function but when the herbicide is sprayed this mutated protein might be a transporter that doesnt allow the herbicide to be taken up by the plant and hence a few dandelions will stay alive.

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