Question

Research conducted by Jirtle & Waterland found that when pregnant mice with yellow coats and a genetic predisposition for obsesity and diabetes were fed a diet rich in B-vitamins, their gene for obesity was "turned off", and the mice produced pups with brown coats that were not prone to obesity or diabetes. This phenomenon is called:

A. epigenetic change.

B. dominant gene mutation.

C. allele variation.

D. recessive gene mutation.

Answer 1

The correct option is A)epigenetic change.

In epigenetic regulation, the underlying DNA is not altered, only the gene expression is changed.The change has to made in a heritable trait which is passed and expressed in the successive generation through a process called DNA methylation, to switch genes on or off during development.

Recessive and Dominant are two types of gene mutations.Recessive mutations leads to a loss of function.These are changes in DNA structure.