why is it that asexual reproduction produces exact copies ,but sometime minor variation are also seen in next progeny
Answers
Asexual reproduction means during the reproduction only one
organism is involved. There is no sexual activity or contact between two
organisms. In asexual reproduction, the progeny inherits all characteristics
from the parent. It is also a cloning. So the progeny is an exact copy.
Some bacteria and plants do asexual reproduction.
But sometimes some variations occur too. There are hereditary
variations. The changes in the genotype of the organism are passed on to the
clones. The variations occur due to genetic events such as: recombination
, and crossing over. Also sometimes there are sudden abnormalities in the
mutation (hereditary make up) too. Thus clones have small variations.
There are variations in the clones due to the environment in which the
organisms are. These factors are availability of light , water, air,
temperature , humidity, abundance or scarcity of food and exposure to
environment. However these variations are not normally passed onto the next
generation. These variations are not inherited in asexual reproduction. They
change the phenotype (appearance attributes) of the organism only.