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Why did Beadle and Tatum choose Neurospora as their experimental organism to test the one-gene, one-enzyme hypothesis?

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Final answer:

Neurospora was chosen because it is a simple organism that grows quickly, can grow on a minimal medium, and produces a large number of spores.

Step-by-step explanation:

George Beadle and Edward Tatum chose Neurospora as their experimental organism to test the one-gene, one-enzyme hypothesis for several reasons. Firstly, Neurospora is a simple organism that grows quickly and is easy to culture in the laboratory. This allowed Beadle and Tatum to perform large-scale experiments and obtain results more efficiently. Secondly, Neurospora is capable of growing on a minimal medium without the need for additional nutrients, making it ideal for studying biosynthetic pathways and the production of specific enzymes. Finally, Neurospora produces a large number of spores, which facilitated the isolation of mutants and the identification of specific genes that are responsible for the production of certain enzymes.

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