Question

A population of deer gets exposed to a pesticide that produces mutations in one of the following types of cells. In which type of cell will a mutation be most likely to alter the make-up of the population?

Answer 1

Answer: sperm cell

Explanation: Sperm (also known as spermatozoa) is the male reproductive cell that are produced in the testicular organ of male animals and human beings. It consists of two parts, the head and the tail and the main function of it is to pass biological information required to produce a new organism. The sperm unites an ovum of the female to produce a new offspring.

Answer 2

Answer:

sperm cell

Explanation:

Sperm cell is a germinal cell of male eukaryotes. Germinal cells  are  cells that develop to sperms in males or oocyte in females.

This question  exemplified germinal mutation. This  is mutation   that occurs in germ cells(sperm DNA)  during the  stages of  fertilization or zygote developments,  that  results in variation in genetic composition  of the population , as the mutated DNA is passed down during fertilization to the offspring.

Generally germinal mutation can be caused by factors  within the body of the organisms (endogenous  factors) or from the external environment(exogenous  factors.). In both cases these factors do not have any effect on the whole body (soma) of the parents but results in entirely new offspring.

Pesticides  exposure is an example of exogenous factors  which results in  mutations in the DNA of the sperm cells of the deer, and therefore  variation in the genetic make-up of the population.