Question

The famous experiment performed by Briggs and King in 1952 using somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) tested for genomic equivalency demonstrated that:

A) Frog oocytes when fertilized develop into adult frogs
B) The nuclei of an embryo is genetically distinct from a skin cell
C) Albino frog sperm fertilize wild-type frog oocytes
D) The cytoplasm of skin cells of an albino frog contains material for the development of an embryo
E) Skin cell genetic material can drive the development of an organism

Answer 1

The experiment performed by Briggs and King in 1952 using somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) demonstrated that skin cell genetic material can drive the development of an organism. SCNT is the technique of transferring a diploid nucleus into an enucleated egg and can be used for either therapeutic cloning or reproductive cloning.

Step-by-step explanation:

The famous experiment performed by Briggs and King in 1952 using somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) tested for genomic equivalency and demonstrated that skin cell genetic material can drive the development of an organism. SCNT is the technique of transferring a diploid nucleus into an enucleated egg and can be used for either therapeutic cloning or reproductive cloning.

The experiment showed that if the haploid nucleus of an egg cell is replaced with a diploid nucleus from the cell of an individual of the same species, the resulting zygote will be genetically identical to the donor. This confirms that every cell in a multicellular organism contains the same genes, and no genes are lost during development, but different cells express genes differentially.

This experiment was a breakthrough in understanding genetic equivalency and the potential for reproductive cloning.