AP BIOLOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -Genetic variation is increased by meiosis Because of recombination and independent assortment in meiosis, each gamete contains a different set of DNA. This produces a unique combination of genes in the resulting zygote. Recombination or crossing over occurs during prophase I.

Detailed explanation-2: -Mutations can introduce new alleles into a population of organisms and increase the population’s genetic variation.

Detailed explanation-3: -Gene variants, including mutations, can be either inherited or acquired. An inherited gene mutation, as the name implies, is inherited from a parent, so it’s present in the very first cell (once the egg cell is fertilized by a sperm cell) that eventually becomes a person.

Detailed explanation-4: -Genetic variation can be caused by mutation (which can create entirely new alleles in a population), random mating, random fertilization, and recombination between homologous chromosomes during meiosis (which reshuffles alleles within an organism’s offspring).