Selective breeding (A.K.A artificial selection) is a procedure in which humans intentionally choose which traits they desire of an organism to pass on to their offspring. Selective breeding is a practice that has been done by humans since hundreds of years ago. Farmers chose crops and cattle with beneficial desirable traits (e.g. larger size) and made them breed. Despite the fact that they did not know the concept of genes and selective breeding, it was probably noticeable to them that when two parents with desirable genes were made to breed, it was very likely for the offspring to inherit these desirable genes. This is now a widely used practice for all sorts of plants and animals in order to achieve offspring with desirable traits. The …show more content…
Softer skin, smaller seeds, sweeter fruit, shorter width and longer length may have been favorable traits in the banana that the humans back then desired. Now, we know through the advance in research on genetics; that to be able to reliably produce these favorable traits; people must’ve been able to breed offspring that contained the dominant (or homozygous recessive) allele(s) for each of these traits (where alleles are different versions of a characteristic). This is important because if the desirable trait is dominant; only when the dominant alleles are present that the dominant traits are able to be shown in the phenotype of the individual (i.e. the traits are physically observable in the individual). If the desirable traits were recessive, then it is only when the dominant alleles are absent and only the recessive alleles are present in order for that particular characteristic to be shown in the phenotype of an individual. To do this with bananas, two banana trees showing favorable traits within their fruit are crossed together. Offspring that contained these desirable dominant (or recessive) traits (e.g. softer skin, sweeter taste) are selected and then bred again with another banana plant that also showed these desirable traits; while bananas with undesirable traits (e.g. harder skin, bitter taste) are disposed of (or eaten) possibly by being tossed back into the wild where their survival chances are lower. This process is continued until all characteristics of
Everyone has heard of the bulldog. There are English bulldogs, French bulldogs, and many more. What if someone were to tell you that because of selective breeding, your precious pooch may be in danger. Selective breeding is something that breeders do to get the best looking dogs. Breeders do this for show dogs and for sport dogs but in the the bulldogs case it is very dangerous. Bulldogs are now faced with a decreased lifespan, more health problems, and is leading to less of a species variety. Even though selective breeding is great to keep certain traits out of the way, in the bulldogs case, it could be disastrous.
A breed is a particular set of domestic animals or plants having uniform look and behavior, that differentiate it from other animals or plant. While as Domestication is the process whereby a population of living organisms is changed at the genetic level, through generations of selective breeding, to accentuate traits that ultimately benefit humans. The deliberate breeding of animals and other species to get required features by human beings is called selective breeding. It includes breeding methods such as inbreeding, line breeding etc. The animals that are produced are tamed, and the breeding is usually done by an expert breeder.
I support the guidelines outlined by Kitcher for the use of genetic information because of their responsible and ethical nature. I believe that future generations will benefit as a direct consequence of these guidelines. I shall begin by defining eugenics as the study of human genetics to improve inherited characteristics of the human race by the means of controlled selective breeding.
Humans have been manipulating genetic transfer for over 10,000 years since our hunter- gatherer ancestors began to settle in one place and started farming and planting crops. Those humans observed and chose organisms from natural selection to select and breed organisms that showed characteristics desired by them and this began the process of selective breeding. Selective breeding favours recessive alleles that do not persist in wild populations. Selective breeding is a process of increasing the frequency of rare and recessive alleles so that they appear in homozygous form. This has the effect of eliminating the alleles for wild type from the population and the process of domestication has become irreversible. The domestic species has become dependent on humans for their survival. It is from these domestic species that humans have selected and breed favourable genetic traits for their benefit, be it higher yield in plant crops, sweeter tasting fruit, and more milk from dairy cows or ease of handling stock, selective breeding continues to be used today.
Used since the dawn of human domestication of agriculture and livestock, the basic premise of artificial selection involved early farmers selectively saving seeds to breed plants with certain characteristics (Evolution of Corn, n.d.). In more recent times, the aim has shifted from simply creating sturdier, tastier fruits and vegetables to being able to create as much food possible in order to meet human demands. Shaped by our modern global economy’s demand of efficiency, rising industrialization over the 20th century, and growing population, agricultural practices of genetic manipulation of crops has grown immensely over the last century. Taking a step beyond selectively saving choice seeds, the discovery of “hybrid vigor” by genetic engineers lead to farmers being able to interbreed
From the reading, the one thing that stood out the most is how eugenics came about and how poor white trash were seen as having an illness and disease to justify their social class status. The whole concept of eugenics just doesn’t quite sit well with me due to the fact that it believes there is a set of individuals who are superior to others, what justify that? Under what conditions does society have the right to make a reproductive choice for someone else? Chapter 3 talks about how three generations of imbeciles is enough, but in my opinion, it is not up to society to cut reproduction, especially when family and heirs have such an importance to people, regardless of social class because it has become a norm, to have a family. Although eugenics
The author name was Edwin Black, the publisher was History News Network and the URL link is http://historynewsnetwork.org/article/1796. The publication was made on September 2003.
In the Name of Eugenics by Daniel J. Kevles explores the history of the eugenics movement and several of the most influential eugenicists who impacted the field. The book focuses on the earliest years of the movement when it was used primarily as a way to try and determine who was and was not fit to marry and reproduce, as well as the later years of the movement where it was used to help understand and diagnose various medical problems passed down from parents to their children. Eugenics was primarily used as a way to classify different segments of society and was often used as an excuse to infringe upon the rights of different groups of people who did not fit the societal standard. The first eugenicist Kevles mentions is Francis Galton.
After Charles Darwin published his book “On the origins of species” in 1859, evolution became a hot topic of discussion; the notion of the human race improving itself by selective breeding started to spread (Winfield, 2012). For years
Selective breeding also could cause a decrease in biodiversity due to inbreeding. Inbreeding is the production of breeding between closely related individuals [2] and is used as it increases the chance of having favourable alleles and desirable phenotypes in the offspring. However, due to the individuals close genetic relations to one another this can cause many problems for the biodiversity of the population of dairy cows. Traits that may be disadvantageous now will be continuously chosen against during genomic selection and embryo transfer as the DNA is being scanned and checked for undesirable traits. However, this disadvantageous trait may become an advantageous trait in the future but it will be lost through the generations of selective breeding against it and are difficult to get back. As a result, this affects the evolution of the species as a whole because they develop and change to suit the desirable traits chosen which results in the undesirable traits being lost altogether.
Artificial selection could not only be good for the environment but can help people as well. From the article “Pros and Cons of Artificial Selection” they state, "Farmers who engage in artificial selection can create crops that are bigger, more plentiful, or more resilient to local pests. When more of a crop can be grown to completion on a regular basis, then this allows for more profits to be achieved.” If the farners where to cross-breed the species, it can create a new species, and could make one that hasn't been existed yet. The farmer could then sell this and make a great deal off of it. When related to a food chain, the artificial selection can live longer and grow to be more powerful. In the article they also explain, “Horses can become faster. Chickens begin laying eggs sooner or laying more eggs. Even cats or dogs can be bred through artificial selection for better companionship.” Artificial breeding will not only cause different types of breedings, but by doing so it can cause crops, animals, and even people to maybe even make there life easier. Lastly, another example of artificial breeding is that they can be used in every industry. There isn’t any plant that can’t get something out of the breeding process. If you pick animals that have the most beneficial traits, a life can be developed that is better suited to meet the needs of a changing
In the twentieth century, the eugenics movement assembled a powerful coalition of progressives, intellectuals, and professionals to advocate an agenda of eugenic legal reform. This agenda centered on the belief that many undesirable traits are hereditary and that the government should be permitted to remove those traits from the racial stock. Those who were mentally disabled or ill, or belonged to socially disadvantaged groups were the main targets for the movement. C.W. Saleeby once stated
The term Eugenics was first used in 1883 by Sir Francis Galton. Galton believed that eliminating certain genes through selective breeding could improve the human race. However, Galton looked to Britain’s elite because he felt that the upper class had good genetic makeup. Today, the Eugenics movement has spread across the world and has allowed the possibility of parents to be able to choose an embryo that is free of disease through in vitro fertilization. Furthermore, there are positive and negative aspects when it comes to using eugenics.
They were terrible, people believed it as a place to torture people but what it was actually meant for, is to help you with disorders or illnesses. They would be electrocuted,stabbed,treated poorly. They even as a last resort they would do brain surgery to stop things like disorders of some sort.They would do brain surgery and cut two holes in the skull to look inside the brain and see what's wrong or if there's something happening,they’d even stick two metal rods in your brain.There this one treatment that they would shock you to help with psychological disorders such as schizophrenia.
Offspring that possess favorable traits are more capable of surviving into adulthood and thus reproducing. We know from genetics that there is an increased likelihood that their offspring would also possess that desirable trait. The population of individuals possessing the trait would increase as more individuals possessing the trait survived to reproductive years, and fewer without the trait did not. Natural selection can help prevent a species from going extinct if they were to face adverse conditions that