All living things depend upon a genetic code for reproducing. True or false?

Question

It has to do with biology and I can't find it anywhere in my lessons 

Answer 1

Hi, Melinda!

In answering questions like this, it's sometimes useful to think about what would happen if the statement were false: "Some living things reproduce without a Genetic Code"

 

Living things are 'self building'; remember that you came from a single egg containing DNA and some pre-build machines (proteins, organelles). Where did the rest of you 'come from'? The answer is by the creation of more machines (proteins assembled from the 'genetic instructions' in your DNA). If there were no genetic instructions, the egg would just sit there--perhaps happily metabolizing based on the components 'gifted' to it by the mother, but nothing new could be done.

 

Now, where must these instructions have come from? They can't magically assemble themselves... the must come from the mother and/or the father. The must be copies of information that built those 'machines' (another way of looking at an organism is a complicated machine). So the instructions must be in some format that can be copied and shared... again, a genetic code.

 

So--since it would be impossible to create new (child) organisms WITHOUT some sort of copyable instructions, it must be true that they are required for life as we know it (and as we imagine it elsewhere)

Answer 2

True, all living things contribute genetic information to their offspring in order to continue the species.