In the eighteenth century the French naturalist Jean Baptiste de Lamarck believed that an animal's use or disuse of an organ affected that organ's development in the animal's offspring. βββ
Intro to Topic Β·Lamarckianism
Environmentally induced adaptations can somehow be inherited.
Mama giraffe stretched its neck out to reach tall leaves (that's the environmentally induced adaptation). Somehow baby giraffe is able to inherit a long neck.
Scientists newly discovered numerous examples. I'm expecting to read on to find examples of where a mama organism's environmentally induced adaptation gets passed onto her babies.
Environmentally induced adaptation in this case is the loss of cell walls in bacteria. This adaptation (loss of cell wall) does get passed onto subsequent generations of bacteria. The mechanism of inheritance is not via genes but rather via the interaction among genes.
Virus can infect fruit flies and add a gene which will get passed on. If infected flies are kept warm during reproduction, the virus is eliminated and so is the gene.
If anΒ E. coli bacterium with a certain kind of gene comes into contact with another without that kind of gene, the gene can be inserted into latter, which will then get passed onto its offspring.
The causal mechanism found in E. coli could have helped to speed up evolution. For example, complex cells could have acquired photosynthesis by having come into contact with bacterium that possessed the photosynthesis gene.
Implications Β·Gene inheritance can be "vertical" or "horizontal"
"Vertical" inheritance is what we are familiar with, inheritance of genes from from ancestors. "Horizontal" inheritance is what the previous paragraphs described: from viruses, plasmids, bacteria, or other environmental agents.
Conclusion Β·Horizontal transmission may be the mechanism for inheritance that Lamarck needed
Passage Style
Phenomenon-hypothesis
Single position
14.
According to the passage, which βββ ββ βββ βββββββββ ββ ββ ββββββββ ββββββββββββββ βββββββββββ ββ ββββββββ βββ βββββββββββ βββββ βββββ ββββββ ββββ ββ ββββββ ββ βββββββββββ β βββββ
Question Type
Stated
The answer is stated at the end of P2 β βThis inherited absence of cell walls in bacteria results from changes in the interactions among genes.β Either you rely on your low-res summary to find this or the text search box to look for βinteractβ.
a
invulnerability to carbon βββββββ βββββββββ
Weβre looking for absence of cell walls β this is the quality that is inherited from interactions among genes. The CO2 discussion relates to a separate example, and the passage never states that CO2 vulnerability results from interactions among genes.
b
susceptibility to carbon βββββββ βββββββββ
Weβre looking for absence of cell walls β this is the quality that is inherited from interactions among genes. The CO2 discussion relates to a separate example, and the passage never states that CO2 vulnerability results from interactions among genes.
c
lack of cell βββββ
Stated at the end of P2.
d
presence of cell βββββ
This is the opposite of what weβre looking for. Itβs the absence of cell walls thatβs passed along from interactions of genes.
e
possession of certain ββββββββ
Weβre looking for absence of cell walls β this is the quality that is inherited from interactions among genes. The plasmid discussion relates to a separate example, and the passage never states that possession of certain plasmids results from interactions among genes.
Difficulty
83% of people who answer get this correct
This is a moderately difficult question.
It is slightly harder than the average question in this passage.
CURVE
Score of students with a 50% chance of getting this right
25%137
148
75%159
Analysis
Stated
Phenomenon-hypothesis
Science
Single position
Answer Popularity
PopularityAvg. score
a
3%
160
b
3%
159
c
83%
167
d
3%
158
e
8%
162
Question history
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