NEET2008BotanyMineral NutritionActual
Nicotiana sylvestris flowers only during long days and N.tabacum flowers only during short days. If raised in the laboratory under different photoperiods, they can be induced to flower at the same time and can be cross-fertilized to produce self-fertile offspring. What is the best reason for considering (N ).sylvestris and N.tabacum to be separate species?
Options
- AThey cannot interbreed in nature.
- BThey are reproductively distinct.
- CThey are physiologically distinct.
- DThey are morphologically distinct.
Correct answer
A. They cannot interbreed in nature.
Step-by-step solution
The process by which N ₂ is reduced to NH ₄⁺ is called nitrogen fixation. Nitrogenase enzyme catalyzes this reduction. It is only carried out by prokaryotic microorganisms. Principal N ₂ -fixers include certain free living cyanobacteria in symbiotic associations with fungi in lichens or with ferns, mosses, and liverworts, and by bacteria or other microbes associated symbiotically with roots, especially those of legumes. About 15 percent of the nearly 20,000 species in the fabaceae (Leguminosae) family have been exa