Question

One advantage of using bacteria and viruses for the genetic study is the fact that they have haploid genomes. Explain why a haploid genome facilitates genetic analysis.

Answer 1

In this context, haploid cells posses only one set of chromosomes. This is an advantage because you can observe the effect of one mutation on the phenotype of the cells while in diploid cells, both chromosomes must get the mutation in order to observe the mutation. In other words, if we have a heterozygous individual we wont observe any change on its phenotype while in a diploid cell, we can see the mutation because there is only one chromosome. This will allow you the function of specific genes and how mutations can affect their function.