Genetic evolution has long been a difficult existence for all species to control, and with the rise of natural science in recent times, mankind has opened up research projects on animal backcrossing.

Humans cannot expend energy to do meaningless things, so why should humans let animals back into the cross? Is there a benefit to backcrossing?

Definition of Backcrossing

The so-called backcross is actually a form of hybridization, hybridization can only be carried out in the first generation, while the backcross can be used to mate the second generation with the first generation, or the second generation with the second generation.

This leads to the fact that the variety after the cross is just a combination of permutations of the original genes and there is no genetic change.

In human society, this is reflected in consanguineous unions, which are bound in various ways among humans.

The first is the ethical and moral charge that among social groups, humans have long developed a concept of non-consanguineous unions that has accompanied human civilization to this day.

This concept is almost engraved in the DNA of human beings, and has become an irreversible knowledge.

Throughout history, there have been many people who have crossed this red line, people who have adhered to the notion of my way or the highway and have not been afraid of moral accusations.

However, there is a price to be paid for trying to cross the red line. The probability of disease in the offspring of inbreeding is very high, and many children are born with a variety of diseases, and few children make it to adulthood in good health.

This is because in the process of combining genes, they go back to the "starting point" and this single gene makes the offspring much less resistant to risk.

The cost of backcrossing is much less for natural species than for humans, which have no moral concerns and whose offspring will not manifest themselves in harm's way until several generations later.

The harm is not obvious in the short term, but in the long term it is likely to be a crisis of the population.

If backcrossing is so harmful, why do humans allow animals to backcross?

Reasons for backcrossing

The first point is that backcrossing animals is much less expensive than in humans, and scientists use backcrossing animals to study genetic changes in species.

This is an essential experiment for human research on genes, after all, the future direction of human genes is anyone's guess, and only by conducting more research can we prevent possible future risks.

Animals also deliberately prevent backcrossing, such as tigers, where males are required to leave their mothers as adults, and as far away as possible.

On the one hand, is the desire to find a piece of their own territory in the great world, on the other hand, is also to prevent the return of the cross.

Because tigers are often "hungry" when they come into heat, their instinct to reproduce makes them choose to mate back.

The males are well aware of the dangers of this situation and try to avoid it.

Second, repeated backcrossing drives a particular genetic trait to become more pronounced while reducing genetic resistance to risk.

This is a good thing for human beings, because in the process of cultivation of plants and animals, there will be advantages between different kinds of species.

In this context, how to combine these genetic advantages has become the direction of research by many scientists.

After all, the combination of genes is random, and humans are not yet able to control the results of this randomness very well.

So, someone came up with a way to bring out the superior genes of both sides by backcrossing before the species are bred in crosses.

This way, the dominant genes are not lost due to the mixing of other genes, but also become more visible in the mating from generation to generation.

By the time the two species are bred to maturity, the probability of their superior genes combining together will be greater, promoting the development of hybrid species and making the genetic combination more stable.

In the breeding of animals such as domestic animals, a single gene is also beneficial for humans.

For example, humans have domesticated domestic pigs, which can supply human demand for meat well. These pigs are kept in human cages and do not have to face the natural environment of superiority and inferiority, so there is no need for genetic evolution.

Instead of letting them evolve themselves, it is better to control their genes and make their "meat-growing" genes more obvious.

In addition, in the breeding of pets, many people believe that a pet's genes are perfect enough and do not need to be mixed with other genes, so they will use backcrossing to continue the genetic "purity" of the species.

Everything is predicated on the premise that humans need to assume risk tolerance for pets that will be uncompetitive once they are placed in the natural environment.

Benefits of backcrossing

At present, the pros and cons of backcrossing are mixed, no one can say whether there are more benefits or disadvantages, but as long as the strict technical control is done, it is a blessing for human beings.

For example, this backcrossing technique can be applied to species flooding, and through technical means, the flooding of species can be effectively controlled by making the flooded species appear backcrossed on a large scale, leading to a reduction in the risk resistance of their next generation.

The theory is relatively simple, but the actual operation is extremely difficult, I believe that after the future of human technology is more mature, this theory can be easily transformed into reality.

The use of backcrossing technology is also one of the reasons for the deliciousness of the colorful fruits among them.

Before bananas were domesticated by humans, they had a bitter taste and the inner banana-boy was so large and hard that most people were reluctant to eat this so-called fruit.

It was not until later that bananas were introduced to the garden and through various backcrossing methods, delicious bananas were bred.

It is just a pity that the risk resistance is really low, leading to the most widely planted banana in the world in the last century - Big Mac was once on the verge of extinction.

After these banana trees were attacked by the virus, they immediately died in large areas, not giving experts the opportunity to study countermeasures.

Later, alternatives to the Big Mac were developed that were even less risk-resistant than the Big Mac.

As you can see, the mixed pros and cons of backcrossing technology are not alarming.

In addition, watermelon is also the product of people using backcrossing technology to breed, the initial watermelon is not sweet, like a winter melon, raw to make people difficult to swallow.

With backcrossing technology, the genetic traits of sweet and juicy watermelon were retained and amplified, while other genes gradually became invisible.

Since backcrossing techniques can make species better, can hybridization promote evolution between species?

Can hybridization evolve?

In everyone's life, there is no shortage of hybrid varieties to accompany, such as hybrid rice, hybrid watermelon and so on.

It looks shiny on the surface, but is that really true of hybridization?

In nature there is a red line called reproductive isolation, animals once touched, there will be very serious consequences.

The so-called reproductive isolation, is nature to prevent different species, or the same species that have not been able to communicate for too long, the emergence of mating situations.

The emergence of reproductive isolation makes the probability of producing offspring after mating between different species very low, only a probability of a few hundred million to one.

Even if the offspring are born, in essence, the offspring are genetically either of the parents, but with some differences in characteristics.

Their offspring fertility is also very low, for example, the mule is the horse and donkey born "lucky", but it is almost impossible to give birth, even if there is a one in a billion chance of giving birth to a child, the probability will be stillborn.

If you are lucky enough to have a child, the genes will return to the horse or donkey again.

This ensures the independence of each species while making it difficult to breed new species between different species through the advantage of genetic complementation.

Of course, in the face of leading human technology, there are always cases of success, but the probability of this is too small compared to the countless failures.

In the final analysis, or human beings are unable to control the randomness of genes, I believe that one day, after humans have enough mature technology, can make full use of hybridization technology to benefit mankind.