AQA GCSE Biology

Selective breeding & cloning

AQA GCSE Biology revision on Selective breeding & cloning. Aligned to the AQA GCSE Biology 8461 specification. This bank has 25 practice questions on this topic.

Sample questions (3 of 25)

  1. Question 1

    What is the primary risk associated with the continuous practice of selective breeding within a closed population?

    • A) Increased rates of mutation
    • B) Reduced gene pool variation
    • C) Higher metabolic requirement
    • D) Loss of dominant phenotype
    Show answer

    Answer: Reduced gene pool variation

    By repeatedly choosing parents with similar desirable characteristics, breeders unintentionally eliminate other alleles from the gene pool. This reduction in genetic variation makes the population more susceptible to environmental changes or new diseases, as there is less chance of individuals possessing resistant genes.

  2. Question 2

    Which biological process is used to produce an adult clone from a somatic cell of a donor organism?

    Show answer

    Answer: Nuclear transfer

    In this process, the nucleus is removed from an unfertilised egg cell and replaced with the nucleus from an adult body cell. This reconstructed egg is then stimulated to divide and develop into an embryo, which is genetically identical to the donor of the somatic nucleus.

  3. Question 3

    Why does a clone produced by adult cell cloning possess the same genetic material as the donor of the somatic cell nucleus?

    • A) The egg cell provides new DNA
    • B) The nucleus contains the genome
    • C) The embryo inherits cytoplasm
    • D) The donor mother is identical
    Show answer

    Answer: The nucleus contains the genome

    Since the egg cell's original nucleus is removed, the only source of nuclear DNA for the developing embryo is the nucleus transferred from the somatic cell. Therefore, the resulting organism shares the exact genome of the somatic cell donor, not the egg donor.

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