Plasmodium is an organism with both sexual and asexual life cycles describe the most likely cause of a heritable phenotypic change in some members of a population of asexually reproducing organisms explain how repeated exposure of the artesunate-sensitive plasmodium strain to increasing concentrations of artesunate led to the development of the artesunate-resistant plasmodium strain.

Question: Plasmodium is an organism with both sexual and asexual life cycles describe the most likely cause of a heritable phenotypic change in some members of a population of asexually reproducing organisms explain how repeated exposure of the artesunate-sensitive plasmodium strain to increasing concentrations of artesunate led to the development of the artesunate-resistant plasmodium strain.

In asexually reproducing organisms, such as certain strains of Plasmodium, heritable phenotypic changes can occur due to mutations in the organism's DNA that are passed on to the offspring. This is the primary mechanism for heritable changes in asexual populations, as they lack the genetic variation introduced through sexual reproduction mechanisms like meiotic recombination and segregation. Epigenetic factors can also play a role in heritable phenotypic changes. These include modifications that do not change the DNA sequence but still affect gene expression, such as DNA methylation and histone modification.

The development of artesunate-resistant strains of Plasmodium can be attributed to the principle of natural selection. When an artesunate-sensitive Plasmodium population is exposed to increasing concentrations of the drug, those individuals with mutations conferring resistance to artesunate have a survival advantage. Over time, these resistant individuals become more prevalent within the population. This process is accelerated by the high replication rate of Plasmodium, which increases the likelihood of mutations, including those that confer drug resistance. The repeated exposure to artesunate thus selects for the resistant strain, leading to a population that predominantly consists of artesunate-resistant Plasmodium.

Rjwala

Rjwala is your freely Ai Social Learning Platform. here our team solve your academic problems daily.