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A scientist wanted to conduct a genetic experiment on mice. He cut the tails of all the mice and made them reproduce. What will be the phenotype of the offsprings?
Topic: Acquired characters are not inherited
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Answer
(c) All the offsprings will have tails..
ALL the offspring will have tails.
THE PRINCIPLE: cutting a tail is an ACQUIRED CHARACTER — a change to the BODY (somatic) cells during the animal’s lifetime. It does not alter the GENES in the reproductive cells, and only what is in the gametes is passed to the offspring. So the young are born with tails, however many generations the experiment is repeated.
THIS IS A FAMOUS EXPERIMENT. August Weismann actually did it, cutting the tails of mice for 22 generations, and every generation was born with a full-length tail. He performed it to DISPROVE LAMARCK’S theory of the inheritance of acquired characters — the idea that a giraffe stretching its neck would pass a longer neck to its young.
Remember the distinction: an INHERITED character comes from the genes and is passed on; an ACQUIRED character develops during life and is not. Pierced ears, a scar, learned skills and cut tails are all acquired.
All the offsprings will have tails..