Question

The lumper potatoes that were grown in Ireland during the 1800s were essentially clones of one another. They all had the same genetic makeup. So, when a potato blight disease began infecting the potatoes, it spread to all potatoes equally. How could greater genetic diversity have lessened the devastation of the potato blight?

Answer 1

The question has options that are given as below:

A. Some potatoes would be more likely to have a genetic resistance to the disease and survive. B. The potatoes would have been able to trade genes so that they could survive the disease. C. More of the potatoes would have been edible varieties. D. None of the potatoes would have been infected by the disease.

Answer:

The correct answer is - A. Some potatoes would be more likely to have a genetic resistance to the disease and survive.

Explanation:

Genetic resistance is the capability or ability of some individual organisms of a population or species have to adapt the environmental or genetic changes and survive while other organisms of species are not able to do the same.

In this case, some of the potatoes more likely to show genetic resistance to the disease and condition and survive from the devastation of the potato blight