Concept of Intergenic and Intragenic Gene Interaction

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There are mainly two types of gene interactions namely intragenic and intergenic gene interaction. First, we will discuss the intergenic gene interaction. It is an interaction between two different genes located on either the same chromosome or different chromosome. To understand this concept, I have discussed it in detail on my video below: 


In the case of intragenic gene interaction, it is an interaction between two alleles of a gene present on the homologous chromosome. Please watch the video until the end to understand the concept in a very easy way.
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Why are night blooming flowers generally white?

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White is considered as the lightest color and achromatic without any hue as it fully reflects and scatters all the visible spectrum of light. White stands out dramatically with limited light. Besides, color, smell and overall form of any flower are produced for the sole purpose of pollination. During the daytime, flowers with colored petals generally attract butterflies, bees, and other insects. On the other hand, night-blooming flowers usually attract moths and other nocturnal pollinators. Night blooming flowers are generally white and fragrant as well because there is no purpose for them to be colorful at night. White flowers also reflect moonlight. Why they flower at night is because they avoid competition from day blooming pollinators. It’s nature’s win-win situation for plants as well as pollinating animals. 


Q. How does the bee know which flower has nectar?

is a sugar-rich liquid produced by plants in glands called nectaries. Nectar is produced by plants to attract pollinators including bees. Besides, nectar-bearing flowers are attractive and produce fragrance as well. These features attract bees to such flower-bearing plants. 


Q. Why does cactus have so many thorns?

The cactus thorns are actually modified leaves. This modification is meant to reduce the transpiration rate. Cactus grows in deserts where water is a limiting factor. If cactus has normal leaves, the loss of water through transpiration would be more. That’s why the leaves modified into spines and the stem modified to a flattened green structure responsible for photosynthesis. Besides, the thorns protect plants from animals.


Q. How does the chick recognize her own mother?

The chick recognizes her own mother through the process called imprinting that involves vision, hearing, and olfaction along with touch. Once the egg hatches and the chicks come out – they see the mother, her smell and sound get imprinted within 24 to 48 hours. This type of learning is limited to discrete and sensitive periods in an animal’s life, often when the animal is very young and it has long-lasting effects. Imprinting usually means that the animals learn to identify; approach and follow something or someone, usually a parent. And that helps the animal to find food, shelter, and warmth, etc. Chicks show this type of learning within the first 48 hours after hatching. 

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What is the Pollinating Agent for Water hyacinth and Water lily?

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Aquatic plants are mostly pollinated by water (hydrophilly). For example, in vallisneria, Hydrilla and Zostera water is the source for pollinating flowers. Vallisneria is a dioecious plant meaning both male and female plants are separate.

The female flower reaches on the surface of water by the long stalk while the male flower remains under water. When both flowers mature, staminate flowers release pollen grains on the water surface and reach female flowers through water currents. After pollination and fertilization, the female stalk coils and pulls the fertilized flower below the water surface for further development. Hydrilla and Zostera have male and female flowers on different branches of the same plant. All the above mentioned plants come under submerged category.






However, in free floating aquatic plants such as Eicchornia (water hyacinth), and water lily (Nymphaea) – flowers are present above the water surface. In such plants, pollinating agents are either winds or insects. 
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Why Do Animals Hibernate?

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Hibernation is called “winter sleep” in which animals go into a state of inactivity due to cold environmental temperature, short day lengths and limitations of food. It is a survival strategy that animals adopt when the food availability is scarce or difficult to find during a chilly winter season.

During hibernation, animals lower their metabolic processes; it allows animals to use body’s energy reserves at a very slow rate for a long period of time. In other words, hibernation is a means of energy conservation strategy. This way, animals skip the cold and stressful seasons and come out of hibernation when there is abundant of food available and climatic conditions are moderate. Examples of hibernating animals include a variety of amphibians such as frog, reptiles like snakes, insects and mammals like bear and bat. 
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What is Hole in the Heart?

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When you hear something like a baby has a hole in her heart -- what do you understand? Does it mean, the heart has a hole on its wall? Well, for a layman, such kind of presumption is obvious, but being a science student, you must know what it means. 







Hole in a heart is associated with congenital heart defects. It means, such kind of problem occurs right from the childhood when a baby is born. It is a very severe heart problem, as it changes the normal flow of blood through the heart. In order to understand the defect, you must know the structure of heart. Mammals, like human beings have four chambered heart -- two auricles and two ventricles. Both auricles and ventricles are separated by a wall called septum. The right side of the heart, means the right auricle and right ventricle is responsible for carrying low-oxygen (impure) blood while the left auricle and left ventricle is responsible for carrying oxygenated (pure) blood. The septum prevents the mixing of pure blood with impure blood. 

A baby having a hole in her heart means that a hole is present between the septum of either the auricles or ventricles. When a hole is present between the auricles, it is called Atrial Septal Defect (ASD) and when a hole is present between the ventricular septum, it is called Ventricular Septal Defect (VSD). Because of the presence of a hole in either atrial or ventricular wall -- the pure blood mixes with the impure one. This leads to the circular of mixed blood throughout the body and into the cells and tissues.
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