What term describes organisms that always produce offspring identical to themselves and are homozygous for a trait?

• A. Pure-breeding
• B. Hybrid
• C. Clone
• D. Heterozygous

Answer: (A)

Pure-breeding describes organisms that always pass on the same version of a gene to their offspring and therefore produce uniform progeny for that trait. These individuals are homozygous for the trait, carrying two identical alleles (like AA or aa). Because both gametes carry the same allele, self-pollinating or breeding within the line yields offspring with the same genotype and phenotype every time. A hybrid would be heterozygous and could produce varied offspring; heterozygous refers to having two different alleles, not to uniform progeny. A clone implies identical copies via asexual reproduction, which isn’t about having a homozygous genotype for a trait. So the term that fits best is pure-breeding.