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BIOLOGY, M6 2025 HSC 23

Compare the processes of artificial insemination and artificial pollination.   (3 marks)

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Similarities:

  • Both processes involve the transfer of gametes from one organism to another to produce offspring with desired characteristics.

Differences:

  • Artificial insemination occurs only in animals, where sperm is collected and inserted into the female reproductive tract.
  • Artificial pollination occurs only in (flowering) plants, where pollen is manually transferred between flowers.
  • Artificial insemination is used to improve livestock genetics and breeding programs, while artificial pollination is used to enhance crop production and plant breeding.

Show Worked Solution

Similarities:

  • Both processes involve the transfer of gametes from one organism to another to produce offspring with desired characteristics.

Differences:

  • Artificial insemination occurs only in animals, where sperm is collected and inserted into the female reproductive tract.
  • Artificial pollination occurs only in (flowering) plants, where pollen is manually transferred between flowers.
  • Artificial insemination is used to improve livestock genetics and breeding programs, while artificial pollination is used to enhance crop production and plant breeding.

BIOLOGY, M6 2023 HSC 34

Cattle have been domesticated by humans for approximately 10 000 years. Many biotechnologies have been employed in the farming of cattle.

The table shows examples of the application of these biotechnologies.

\begin{array} {|l|l|}
\hline
\rule{0pt}{2.5ex} \textbf{Biotechnology} \rule[-1ex]{0pt}{0pt} & \textbf{Example} \\
\hline
\rule{0pt}{2.5ex} \text{Selective breeding} & \text{The offspring of highest milk producing female cows were} \\
\text{} & \text{retained and over time cows that produced more milk were bred,} \\
\text{} \rule[-1ex]{0pt}{0pt} & \text{leading to dairy breeds.} \\
\hline
\rule{0pt}{2.5ex} \text{Artificial} & \text{An American bull holds the current record for artificial} \\
\text{insemination} & \text{insemination. He produced 2.4 million units of semen and has} \\
\text{} \rule[-1ex]{0pt}{0pt} & \text{sired cattle in 50 countries.} \\
\hline
\rule{0pt}{2.5ex} \text{Whole organism} & \text{The success rate of cloning cattle is low. There are currently 30-40} \\
\text{cloning} \rule[-1ex]{0pt}{0pt} & \text{cloned cattle in Australia. They are not used commercially.} \\
\hline
\rule{0pt}{2.5ex} \text{Hybridisation } & \text{There are two species of domestic cattle, Bos taurus and Bos} \\
\text{} & \text{indicus. They can be hybridised to breed cattle with} \\
\text{} \rule[-1ex]{0pt}{0pt} & \text{characteristics of both species.} \\
\hline
\rule{0pt}{2.5ex} \text{Transgenic} & \text{The first transgenic cow produced human serum albumin in its} \\
\text{organisms} \rule[-1ex]{0pt}{0pt}& \text{milk. The use of transgenic cattle is not widespread.} \\
\hline
\end{array}

With reference to the table, evaluate the effect of biotechnologies on the biodiversity of cattle.  (5 marks)

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  • Biotechnologies can increase, decrease or maintain the size of the gene pool in populations and species, particularly in the case of cattle which have been subject to a range of biotechnologies.
  • Selective breeding, which decreases biodiversity, has been used for hundreds of years by farmers who oversee the reproduction of cattle with favourable characteristics, such as females who produce the most milk.
  • Artificial insemination, which typically reduces biodiversity, allows a single bull to sire many offspring. This process breeds out certain characteristics of cattle, reducing the diversity of the species. However, in certain circumstances, the gene pool of specific communities can be diversified through the introduction of new alleles.
  • Whole cattle cloning reduces biodiversity by making cloned organisms that are identical genotypes to the parent. As the success rate is low and cloned animals are infertile, this does not have the potential to have a large impact on biodiversity.
  • Hybridisation generally increases biodiversity by naturally mating two different cattle species and in the process, introducing genes not originally present. 
  • Hybridisation can however also reduce biodiversity if cattle hybrids are then selectively bred in preference to the original breeds.
  • Transgenic organisms are produced where new alleles are artificially introduced into the species, increasing biodiversity. As this process is expensive and not widespread, it will not have a large effect on biodiversity.
  • In summary, the most wide spread and influential biotechnologies have the overall effect of decreasing the biodiversity of cattle.

Show Worked Solution

  • Biotechnologies can increase, decrease or maintain the size of the gene pool in populations and species, particularly in the case of cattle which have been subject to a range of biotechnologies.
  • Selective breeding, which decreases biodiversity, has been used for hundreds of years by farmers who oversee the reproduction of cattle with favourable characteristics, such as females who produce the most milk.
  • Artificial insemination, which typically reduces biodiversity, allows a single bull to sire many offspring. This process breeds out certain characteristics of cattle, reducing the diversity of the species. However, in certain circumstances, the gene pool of specific communities can be diversified through the introduction of new alleles.
  • Whole cattle cloning reduces biodiversity by making cloned organisms that are identical genotypes to the parent. As the success rate is low and cloned animals are infertile, this does not have the potential to have a large impact on biodiversity.
  • Hybridisation generally increases biodiversity by naturally mating two different cattle species and in the process, introducing genes not originally present. 
  • Hybridisation can however also reduce biodiversity if cattle hybrids are then selectively bred in preference to the original breeds.
  • Transgenic organisms are produced where new alleles are artificially introduced into the species, increasing biodiversity. As this process is expensive and not widespread, it will not have a large effect on biodiversity.
  • In summary, the most wide spread and influential biotechnologies have the overall effect of decreasing the biodiversity of cattle.

BIOLOGY, M6 2023 HSC 4 MC

The following diagram shows a summary of the process of artificial pollination.
 

The purpose of Process \(B\) is to

  1. produce seeds.
  2. collect the pollen.
  3. fertilise the flower.
  4. prevent self-pollination.
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\(D\)

Show Worked Solution
  • Process \(B\) shows removal of the anthers of the plant.
  • The anthers contain the pollen and male gametes of the plant, hence by removing them, self-pollination is prevented.

\(\Rightarrow D\)

BIOLOGY, M6 EQ-Bank 28

Describe how technological developments led to the advancement of our knowledge and understanding of inheritance. Support your answer with examples.   (7 marks)

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  • Artificial pollination is the process by which pollen with known characteristics is manually applied to another plant with known genotypes anther.
  • This is used in agriculture to preserve favourable characteristics in plants. However, it can also be used to study inheritance patterns and genotype/phenotype relationships.
  • Mendel used this process to investigate ‘pure-breeding’ individuals/plants (ones which always produce the same offspring) to develop the idea of recessive and dominant alleles and the offspring they produced depending on the genotype. This laid the basis for the concept of ‘Mendelian ratios’.
  • Mendel used artificial pollination on purple and white pea plants which were known pure-breeding plants and found that all the offspring (F1 Generation) were purple, determining that the purple allele was dominant.
  • When he again used artificial pollination between F1 Generation plants, he found that it always produced 3/4 of purple plants and 1/4 white. This showed that F1 Generation purple plants were not pure-breed and instead ‘heterozygous’ and contained a masked allele for the white colour. This 3:1 ratio is what became known as a Mendelian ratio. 

Other suggested examples include:

  • Gene editing technology CRISPR
  • Microscopy and staining – behaviour of chromosomes (Sutton and Boveri)
  • X‐ray crystallography and DNA structure (Rosalind Franklin)
  • Radiation – one gene, one polypeptide (Beadle and Tatum)
Show Worked Solution
  • Artificial pollination is the process by which pollen with known characteristics is manually applied to another plant with known genotypes anther.
  • This is used in agriculture to preserve favourable characteristics in plants. However, it can also be used to study inheritance patterns and genotype/phenotype relationships.
  • Mendel used this process to investigate ‘pure-breeding’ individuals/plants (ones which always produce the same offspring) to develop the idea of recessive and dominant alleles and the offspring they produced depending on the genotype. This laid the basis for the concept of ‘Mendelian ratios’.
  • Mendel used artificial pollination on purple and white pea plants which were known pure-breeding plants and found that all the offspring (F1 Generation) were purple, determining that the purple allele was dominant.
  • When he again used artificial pollination between F1 Generation plants, he found that it always produced 3/4 of purple plants and 1/4 white. This showed that F1 Generation purple plants were not pure-breed and instead ‘heterozygous’ and contained a masked allele for the white colour. This 3:1 ratio is what became known as a Mendelian ratio. 

Other suggested examples include:

  • Gene editing technology CRISPR
  • Microscopy and staining – behaviour of chromosomes (Sutton and Boveri)
  • X‐ray crystallography and DNA structure (Rosalind Franklin)

BIOLOGY, M7 2016 HSC 15 MC

Both artificial insemination and cloning are reproductive techniques that can decrease the genetic diversity of a population.

Which row of the table provides a correct reason for each technique's contribution to this decrease?

\begin{align*}
\begin{array}{l}
\rule{0pt}{2.5ex} \ \rule[-1ex]{0pt}{0pt}& \\
\rule{0pt}{2.5ex}\textbf{A.}\rule[-1ex]{0pt}{0pt}\\
\rule{0pt}{2.5ex}\textbf{B.}\rule[-1ex]{0pt}{0pt}\\
\rule{0pt}{2.5ex}\textbf{C.}\rule[-1ex]{0pt}{0pt}\\
\rule{0pt}{2.5ex}\textbf{D.}\rule[-1ex]{0pt}{0pt}\\
\end{array}
\begin{array}{|l|l|}
\hline
\rule{0pt}{2.5ex}\quad \quad \textit{Artificial insemination }\rule[-1ex]{0pt}{0pt}& \quad \quad \quad \quad \quad \quad \quad \ \ \ \textit{Cloning} \\
\hline
\rule{0pt}{2.5ex}\text{Random fertilisation takes place}\rule[-1ex]{0pt}{0pt}&\text{Large numbers of individuals are produced}\\
\hline
\rule{0pt}{2.5ex}\text{One male has many offspring}\rule[-1ex]{0pt}{0pt}& \text{All gametes are genetically identical}\\
\hline
\rule{0pt}{2.5ex}\text{All male gametes are identical}\rule[-1ex]{0pt}{0pt}& \text{All individuals have the same phenotype} \\
\hline
\rule{0pt}{2.5ex}\text{Fewer males are used to reproduce}\rule[-1ex]{0pt}{0pt}& \text{All individuals have the same genotype} \\
\hline
\end{array}
\end{align*}

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\(D\)

Show Worked Solution
  • Artificial insemination uses pollen with favoured characteristics to pollinate flowers. This means that very few males will be used for their pollen for this process.
  • In whole organism cloning, the offspring have the same genome as the parent.

\(\Rightarrow D\)


♦♦ Mean mark 37%.

BIOLOGY, M6 2022 HSC 23

  1. Outline the process of artificial pollination.  (2 marks)

  2. Explain a possible outcome of the use of artificial pollination on subsequent populations.  (2 marks)

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a.   Artificial pollination Process

  • This is the process of manually pollinating plants with pollen of known characteristics in order to obtain offspring with similar qualities.
  • First, anthers of the recipient plant are cut off in order to remove chance of self pollination.
  • Then, pollen is manually transferred to the stigma of the recipient plant by hand using a brush, or using machinery.   

b.   Artificial pollen’s effect on subsequent populations:

  • decreases the variability amongst the species
  • decreases the genetic diversity.
Show Worked Solution

a.   Artificial pollination Process

  • This is the process of manually pollinating plants with pollen of known characteristics in order to obtain offspring with similar qualities.
  • First, anthers of the recipient plant are cut off in order to remove chance of self pollination.
  • Then, pollen is manually transferred to the stigma of the recipient plant by hand using a brush, or using machinery.      

b.   Artificial pollen’s effect on subsequent populations:

  • decreases the variability amongst the species
  • decreases the genetic diversity.

♦ Mean mark (b) 49%.

BIOLOGY, M6 2021 HSC 3 MC

A scientist transferred male gametes from one plant to another to achieve a desired characteristic in the offspring.

Which genetic technology was the scientist using?

  1. Gene cloning
  2. Artificial pollination
  3. Artificial insemination
  4. Whole organism cloning
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`B`

Show Worked Solution
  • The statement describes the manual transferral of pollen from the anther of one plant to the stigma of another which is known as artificial pollination.

`=>B`