In: Anatomy and Physiology
Which of the three non-human organisms (rats, elephants, and dolphins) do you think would be best suited for research on mitochondrial disorders and their effect on ATP production? Explain your answer. (you can take a variety of factors into account.)
Answer:
In order to conduct a research on the mitochondrial disorders and their effect on the ATP production, among these three non human organisms namely; rats, elephants, and dolphins; the best suited will be the rats.
It can be due to a number of reasons as mentioned below:
1. Rats are smaller in size as compared to elephants and dolphins. So they can be easily grown and reared in laboratory as they utilize less space
2. The number of species of rats are more than sufficient and also their reproduction rate; that is the rate with which they give birth to young ones is more than compared to elephant and dolphin
3. The growth and nutrient requirement for a rat is way less as compared to that of elephants and dolphins
4. The habitat of a rat is very diverse which means a rat can easily be found and located to perform any sort of experiments. However locating and tracing elephants and dolphins can be a cost expensive process due to their restricted habitat
5. The genetic and biological behavior of rats resembles very closely to that of humans as compared to elephants and dolphins
6. Rats attain their sexual maturity very soon as compared to that of the elephants and dolphins that are likely to attain their maturity very late. Thus, it contributes towards having a high population number of rats.
Thus, keeping all the above listed factors in mind, rats are the most preferred animals for any biological research to be conducted and performed.