Answer:
The best way to improve the survival of wheat during a drought is to manipulate the cells as they undergo mitosis.
- Mitosis is the process of cell division that results in the formation of two identical daughter cells. During mitosis, the genetic material is duplicated and then divided equally between the two daughter cells. By manipulating the cells during mitosis, scientists can introduce genetic changes that will be present in all of the cells in the resulting plant.
- In contrast, meiosis is the process of cell division that results in the formation of haploid cells with half the number of chromosomes as the original cell. Meiosis is used in sexual reproduction to produce gametes (such as sperm and egg cells) that have genetic diversity. Therefore, manipulating cells during meiosis is not likely to result in the desired changes to improve the survival of wheat during a drought.
- Budding is a type of asexual reproduction where a new individual develops from an outgrowth or bud on the parent. Binary fission is the process of cell division in which a single cell divides into two identical daughter cells. These processes are not relevant to improving the survival of wheat during a drought.
Therefore, option A - Scientists manipulate the cells as they undergo mitosis - is the best way to improve the plants.