During the 1950s, a scientist named Lysenko tried to solve the food shortages in the Soviet Union by breeding wheat that could grow in Siberia. He theorized that if individual wheat plants were exposed to cold, they would develop additional cold tolerance and pass it to their offspring. Based on the ideas of artificial and natural selection, do you think this project worked as planned?
A) Yes; the wheat probably evolved better cold tolerance over time through inheritance of characteristics the individuals gained during their lifetime.
B) No, because Lysenko took his wheat seeds straight to Siberia instead of exposing them incrementally to cold.
C) No, because there was no process of selection based on inherited traits. Lysenko assumed that exposure could induce a plant to develop additional cold tolerance and that this tolerance would be passed to the plant's offspring.
D) Yes, because this is generally the method used by plant breeders to develop new crops.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Lysenko's project did not work as planned because his theory was based on the false assumption that acquired characteristics could be inherited by the next generation. There was also no process of selection based on inherited traits, which is a fundamental concept of natural selection. Therefore, the wheat did not develop better cold tolerance over time through inheritance of acquired traits.

During the 1950s, a Scientist Named Lysenko Tried to Solve