Question

the following passage describes the effects of a gene mutation. read the passage and then follow the instructions below.

image of a european cantaloupe, with one whole and one sliced

a european cantaloupe

in plants such as the european cantaloupe, fruit ripening is affected by a substance called ethylene (eth-uh-leen). ethylene is made inside a plant’s cells with the help of a protein called cmaco1. the cmaco1 protein is encoded by the cmaco1 gene.

a certain european cantaloupe plant had a mutation in its cmaco1 gene. compared to the cmaco1 gene without a mutation, the mutated cmaco1 gene encoded a form of the cmaco1 protein with a different structure.

this different form of the cmaco1 protein could make only a small amount of ethylene. the fruits of this plant took longer to ripen than fruits from plants containing more ethylene. farmers found this mutation useful because the fruit stayed good for a longer period of time after harvest.

complete the sentence.

the mutation caused the cmaco1 gene to encode a form of the cmaco1 protein that made a ______ amount of ethylene.

small
large

Explanation:

The passage clearly states that "This different form of the CmACO1 protein could make only a small amount of ethylene." So we just need to refer to this key sentence in the text.

Answer:

small