Question

A scientist conducted an investigation about the effects of diet on disease resistance in rats and made surprising observations. The mice with a genetic ear mutation seemed to show similar patterns of resistance compared to mice with normal ears. Based on this information, what will most likely occur?
-She will perform a second investigation on the role of certain genes in disease resistance.
-She will revise her hypothesis to pertain to mutations rather than diet, and update her data accordingly.
-She will use this information to determine that her original question was nonscientific, so she will revise it.
-She will determine that her hypothesis was invalid because resistance must be genetic.

Answer 1

(a) she will perform a second investigation on the role of certain genes in disease resistance.

Answer 2

Answer: -She will perform a second investigation on the role of certain genes in disease resistance.

Explanation:

A mutation can be define as permanent change that occur in the genome of the organism, which either makes the organism prone to the disease or disorder to make the organism resistant against these diseases and disorders. These mutations occur during the process of DNA replication in the  process of cell division. The mutations will change the types, order and number of base pairs (A, T, G and C) in an organism.

According to the situation, the mice which exhibited the genetic mutation in the ear showed the similar pattern of disease resistance as that of normal ear mice with the availability of same amount of diet to both types of mice. To make further investigation with this available evidence. The investigator should try to investigate which genes are responsible for providing the disease resistance to the mice.

As genes are the functional units of expression of traits in an organism. The function of the mutated gene may change or the gene may not function at all. Thus it is to be determine whether the mutated as well as the normal genes in normal mice are efficient in providing the disease resistance.