Question

Henry is studying a family of tree frogs that have poisonous skin, and he finds one frog with a mutation for the poison feature. Which of these statements about the tree frog with the mutation is true?

Responses

Answer 1

I don’t see the answer choices, but the key correct point is this:

- Only a mutation that occurred in the frog’s germ cells (eggs or sperm) or in the zygote early in development can be passed to offspring. A mutation confined to somatic (body) cells will affect only that individual and will not be inherited.

Other relevant facts: whether the frog actually shows the poisonous-skin trait depends on how the mutation affects the gene (dominant vs recessive, loss- or gain-of-function). If the mutation is heritable and increases fitness, it may spread by natural selection; if it reduces fitness it may be eliminated.

If you post the specific answer choices I can pick the correct one.