Do organisms create exact copies of themselves?
Answers
Yes! organisms create copies of themselves by Reproduction process.
Organisms look similar because their body designs are similar. If body designs are to be similar, the blueprints for these designs should be similar. Thus, reproduction involves making copies of the blueprints of body design.
Though all of us have similar organs, none of us is the same. Eye colour and blood type differ among individual humans. Differences in these traits are due to genetic differences, or genetic variation. The human gene pool carries alternative alleles that affect blood type and many other traits. Other species also have variation in their gene pools.
Examples:
Though all human beings belong to the species, Homo sapiens, the first upright mammal, no two individuals are exactly alike. Even identical twins have slight differences in their DNA(Deoxyribo Nucleic Acid), which contain information for an inheritance of features from one generation to another.
Apple trees are all members of one species, but the fruit produced by different trees can be red or yellow, hard or soft, sweet or taste, large or small.
Cell:
The cell is the basic structural, functional, and biological unit of all known living organisms. A cell is the smallest unit of life that can replicate independently, and cells are often called the “building blocks of life“.
Important parts of a Cell:
DNA(Deoxyribo Nucleic Acid) :
DNA is a molecule that carries the genetic instructions used in the growth, development, functioning and reproduction of all known living organisms.
Gene :
A gene is a locus or region of DNA which is made up of nucleotides and is the molecular unit of heredity.
Chromosome :
A chromosome is a DNA molecule with part or all of the genetic material (genome) of an organism.
DNA Replication :
It is a complex process whereby the ‘parent’strands of DNA in the double helix are separated, and each one is copied to produce a new (daughter) strand.
DNA is responsible for all inherited characters.
DNA replication of one helix of DNA results in two identical helices.
If the original DNA helix is called the “parental” DNA, the two resulting helices can be called “daughter” helices.
Since it is a biochemical process, DNA replication sometimes results in variations in the new molecule. These changes may be viable or non-viable.
Viable changes are seen as changes in the offspring, while non-viable changes result in death of the new cell.
This inbuilt tendency for variation is the basis for heredity and evolution
➷Question:-
- Do organisms create exact copies of themselves?
➷Answer:-
- Organisms look similar because their body design are similar the blueprints for these designs should be similar.
- Thus, reproduction at this most basic level will involve making copies of the blueprints of body design.
➷Main Point:-
- A basic even in reproduction is the creation of a DNA copy.
- Cells use chemical reactions to build copies of their DNA.