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The following question refers to this figure of a simple metabolic pathway:

According to Beadle and Tatum's hypothesis, how many genes are necessary for this pathway?
a.0
b.1
c.2
d.3

1 Answer

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Final answer:

The number of genes necessary for a simple metabolic pathway, according to Beadle and Tatum's hypothesis, would be equal to the number of steps in the pathway; for a pathway with three steps, this would mean three genes are necessary.

Step-by-step explanation:

According to Beadle and Tatum's hypothesis, which is often summarized as the one gene-one enzyme hypothesis, each gene is responsible for producing a single enzyme that in turn affects a single step in a metabolic pathway. In the provided figure of a simple metabolic pathway, this would suggest that each step in the pathway is catalyzed by a different enzyme encoded by a different gene. Therefore, if the pathway illustrated has three steps, then according to this hypothesis, three genes are necessary for the pathway.

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