1. Assume that white color is dominant over yellow color in squash. If pollen from the
anthers of a heterozygous white-fruited plant is placed on the pistil of a yellow-fruited
plant, show, using ratios, the genotypes and phenotypes you would expect the seeds from
this cross to produce.
W = white, w = yellow. Ww x ww = Ww (white) and ww (yellow) 1:1
2. In human beings, brown eyes are usually dominant over blue eyes. Suppose a blueeyed man reproduces with a brown-eyed woman whose father was blue-eyed. What
proportion of their children would you predict will have blue eyes?
B = brown, b = blue. Bb x bb = 1/2 with blue eyes
3. If a brown-eyed man reproduces with a blue-eyed woman and they have ten children,
all brown-eyed, can you be certain that the man is homozygous? If the eleventh child has
brown eyes, will that prove what the father's genotype is?
No. Statistically speaking, it is likely that the father is homozygous, but each child
represents an independent event. It is still possible that the father is heterozygous.
4. A brown-eyed man whose father was brown-eyed and whose mother was blue-eyed
reproduces with a blue-eyed woman whose father and mother were both brown-eyed. The
couple has a blue-eyed son. For which of the individuals mentioned can you be sure of
the genotypes? What are their genotypes? What genotypes are possible for the others?
Bb = man with father (B_) and mother (bb), bb = woman with father (Bb) and mother
(Bb), son = bb
5. If the litter resulting from the mating of two short-tailed cats contains three kittens
without tails, two with long tails, and six with short tails, what would be the simplest way
of explaining the inheritance of tail length in these cats? Show genotypes.
Notice you have 3 independent phenotypes - versus two. This suggests incomplete
dominance. TT = long, Tt = short, tt = none. Tt x Tt = TT 1: Tt 2: tt 1
6. In the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster, vestigial wings and hairy body are produced
by two recessive genes located on different chromosomes. The normal alleles, long wings
and hairless body, are dominant. Suppose a vestigial-winged hairy male is crossed with a
homozygous normal female. What types of progeny would be expected? If the F1 from
this cross are permitted to mate randomly among themselves, what progeny would be
expected in the F2? Show complete genotypes, phenotypes, and ratios for each
generation.
vg = vestigal wings, hb = hairy body. vg+ = normal wings, hb+ = hairless.
vg+hb
vghb+
vg+hb+
vghb
vgvghbhb
vg+vghbhb
vgvghbhb+
vg+vghbhb+
vg+hb
vgvg+hbhb
vghb+
vgvghbhb+
vg+hb+
vgvg+hbhb+ vg+vg+hbhb+vgvg+hb+hb+vg+vg+hb+hb+
9:3:3:1 ratio
7. Suppose a hairy female heterozygous for vestigial wing is crossed with a vestigialwinged male heterozygous for the hairy character. What will be the characteristics of the
F1?
hbhbvgvg+ x hbhb+vgvg (alleles as above)
hbvg
hbvg+
hbvg
hbhbvgvg
hbhbvgvg+
hb+vg
hbhb+vgvg
hbhb+vgvg+
1:1:1:1
8. In some breeds of dogs, a dominant gene controls the characteristic of barking while
trailing. In these dogs, another independent gene produces erect ears; it is dominant over
its allele for drooping ears. Suppose a dog breeder wants to produce a pure-breeding
strain of droop-eared barkers, but he knows that the genes for silent trailing and erect ears
are present in his kennels. How should he proceed?
B = barking, b = silent
E = erect ears, e = droopy ears
Wants: eeBB
To select for droopy ears, he simply breeds only dogs with droopy ears. To weed out "b"
alleles, he should choose a barking dog he would like to breed and do a back-cross to a
silent dog. If any puppies are silent, he should get rid of the dog in question. Repeat for
all dogs.
9. In hogs, a gene that produces a white belt around the animal's body is dominant over
its allele for a uniformly colored body. Another gene produces a fusion of the two hoofs
on each foot, a condition known as syndactyly; this gene is dominant over its allele,
which produces normal hoofs. Suppose a uniformly colored hog homozygous for
syndactyly is mated with a normal-footed hog homozygous for the belted character. What
would be the phenotype of the F1? If the F1 were allowed to breed freely among
themselves, what genotype and phenotype ratios would you predict for the F2?
B = belt, b = no belt
S = syndactyly, s = normal
bbSS x BBss
F1 = all BbSs
F2: gametes from F1 are BS, Bs, bS, and bs
BS
Bs
bS
bs
BS
BBSS
BBSs
BbSS
BbSs
Bs
BBSs
BBss
BbSs
Bbss
bS
BbSS
BbSs
bbSS
bbSs
bs
BbSs
Bbss
bbSs
bbss
9:3:3:1
10. In watermelons, green color and short shape are dominant over their alleles for striped
color and for long shape. Suppose a plant with long striped fruit is crossed with a plant
that is heterozygous for both of these characters. What phenotypes would this cross
produce and in what ratios?
G = green, g = striped S = short, s = long
ssgg x SsGg
sg
SG
Sg
sG
sg
SsGg
Ssgg
ssGg
ssgg
AB
AO
BB
BO
Xc
XcX
XcX
XcY
XcY
We would expect all the male children to be colorblind and all the female children to be
normal vision.
23. Suppose that gene b is sex-linked, recessive, and lethal. A man reproduces with a
woman who is heterozygous for this gene. If this couple had many normal children, what
would be the predicted sex ratio of these children?
24. A man and his wife both have normal color vision, but a daughter has red-green color
blindness, a sex-linked recessive trait. The man sues his wife for divorce of the grounds
of infidelity. Can genetics provide evidence supporting his case?
25. It is exceedingly difficult to determine the sex of very young chickens, but it is easy
to tell, by visual observation, whether or not they are barred. The barred pattern is
inherited as a sex-linked dominant. Set up a cross so that the sex of all chicks can be
determined when they hatch. (Remember that chickens are birds.)
Zb = barred, Z = normal
Cross a barred male (ZbZb) with a non-barred female (ZW).
Zb
Zb
ZZb
ZZb
ZbW
ZbW
sXb2
sY
SXb1 SsXb1Xb2
SsXb1Y
SXb2 SsXb2Xb2
SsXb2Y
All kittens will have short hair. 1/4 will be black males, 1/4 will be yellow males, 1/4 will
be tortoise shell females, and 1/4 will be black females.
26b. If the F1 cats are allowed to interbreed freely among themselves, what are the
chances of obtaining a long-haired yellow male?
I'm going to separate the characteristics for clarity and ease.
SS
Ss
Ss
ss
Xb2
Xb2
Xb2
Xb1
Xb2
Y
Y
Fill this in, and chances of a yellow male are 1/8.
1/8 x 1/4 = 1/32 chance of a yellow long-haired male.
27. In Drosophila melanogaster, there is a dominant gene for gray body color and another
dominant gene for normal wings. The recessive alleles of these two genes result in black
body color and vestigial wings respectively. Flies homozygous for gray body and normal
wings were crossed with flies that had black bodies and vestigial wings. The F1 progeny
were then test-crossed, with the following results: Gray, normal (236), Black, vestigial
(253), Gray, vestigial (50), Black, Normal (61). Would you say these two genes are
linked? If so, how many units apart are they on the chromosome?
28. The cross-over frequency between linked genes A and B is 40%; between B and C,
20%; between C and D, 10%; between C and A, 20%; between D and B, 10%. What is
the sequence of the genes on the chromosome?
BDCA
Genetics problems II
1a. In silkworms, yellow (Y) cocoons are dominant over white (y). If a silkworm mother
from a pure yellow cocoon is crossed with a male from a pure white one, what will be the
appearance of the cocoons in the offspring?
Y = yellow, y = white
YY x yy
All offspring are Yy, and appear yellow
1b. What results when these hybrids are crossed?
Yy x Yy = 3 yellow: 1 white; 1 YY, 2 Yy, 1 yy
1c. What results when the yellow-cocoon hybrid moths are crossed back to the pure
yellow-cocoon parents?
Yy x YY = all yellow; 1 YY: 1 Yy
1d. What results when the yellow-cocoon hybrid moths are crossed back to the white
parent?
Yy x yy = 1 yellow: 1 white; 1 Yy: 1 yy
1e. What kind of gametes will be produced by (a) pure yellow-cocoon parents, (b) hybrid
yellow-cocoon parents, or (c) white-cocoon parents?
(a) all yellow YY, (b) same as 1b above, (c) all white yy
1f. What genotype and phenotype ratios are to be expected from the following crosses:
(1) P1: Yellow x White (2) P1: Yellow x White (3) P1: Yellow x Yellow (4) P1: Yellow x
Yellow
Ignore this one- something got lost here!
1g. If two yellow-cocoon parents produce about 3/4 yellow-cocoon offspring, what are
the genotypes of the parents?
Parents are both Yy.
1h. How would you determine whether yellow-cocoon moths are pure (homozygous) or
hybrid (heterozygous) if you have the live moths? (Assume you have access to whitecocoon moths also.)
You do a backcross. If no offspring are white, the yellow parent is homozygous. If white
cocoons appear, the parent is heterozygous.
1i. How would you determine whether white-cocoon moths are pure or hybrid?
White cocoons must be pure yy, because it is a recessive trait.
2. In humans, curly hair (S) is dominant over straight hair (s); brown eyes (B) over blue
eyes (b); and right handedness (R) over left-handedness (r). Color blindness (c) is
recessive and sex-linked. A curly-haired, brown-eyed, left-handed man reproduces with a
curly-haired, blue-eyed, right-handed woman. Both have normal color vision. They have
five children, as follows: a- a daughter, curly-haired, blue-eyed, right-handed, normal
vision b- a daughter, straight-haired, blue-eyed, right-handed, normal vision c- a son,
curly-haired, brown-eyed, right-handed, color blind d- a son, curly-haired, brown-eyed,
right-handed, normal vision e- a son, curly-haired, blue-eyed, right-handed, normal vision
What is the genotype of each parent?
S = curly, s = straight
B = brown, b = blue
R = right, r = left
Xc = colorblind, X = normal
S_B_rrXy x S_bbR_X_X
(a) S_bbR_X_X
(b) ssbbR_X_X
S_B_R_XcY
(d) S_B_R_XY
(e) S_bbR_XY
Since one child has straight hair, each parent must carry that allele - so both are Ss.
Since some children have blue eyes, the father must be Bb. Since no children are lefthanded, the most likely scenario is that the mother is RR (but she could be Rr, we can
only make the best assumption.) Since one son is colorblind, the mother must be XcX.
So:
Dad is SsBbrrXY and mom is SsbbRR*XcX (where* = most likely, but not definite)
3. Vermillion eye in Drosophila is a recessive sex-linked character. What will be the
nature of the offspring of a vermillion female and a wild type (red) male?
Xv = vermillion, X = normal
XvXv x XY
F1: 1 XvX (red female): 1 XvY (vermillion male)
XwXVv
Yv
XwYVv
1 XwXVv (normal eye, normal wing female): 1 XwYVv (white eyed, normal wing male)
5a. In cats, yellow is due to a factor (Y), and black to its allele (y). The heterozygous
condition Yy results in tortoise shell. The factors Y and y are sex-linked. What kinds of
offspring would be expected to result from the cross of a black male with a yellow
female?
5b. What kinds of offspring would be expected to result from the cross of a black male
with a tortoise shell female?
(I'm changing alleles to "B" instead of "y" to not confuse with the other "Y")
XbY x XBXb
F1: 1 XbXB (tortoise female): 1 XbXb (black female): 1 XBY (yellow male): 1 XbY (black
male)
5c. A yellow male is mated with a tortoise shell female. If the female has a litter
consisting of four male kittens, what colors would they most probably be?
XBY x XBXb
Expected: 1 XBXB (yellow female): 1 XBXb (tortoise female): 1 XBY (yellow male): 1
XbY (black male)
Since all the kittens happen to be male, we suspect 2 are yellow and 2 are black.
6. In humans, aniridia (a type of blindness) is due to a dominant factor. Optic atrophy
(another type of blindness) is due to a recessive sex-linked factor. A man blind from optic
atrophy reproduces with a woman blind from aniridia. Would any of their children be
expected to be blind? Which type of blindness would they have?
7a. In humans, assume that brown eyes (B) are dominant over blue eyes (b) and that
right-handedness (R) dominates left-handedness (r). What offspring may be expected
from the partnership of a right-handed, blue-eyed man whose father was left-handed, and
a brown-eyed woman from a family in which all of the members have been brown-eyed
and right-handed for several generations?
B = brown, b = blue
R= right, r = left
bbRr x BBRR
BR
bR
br
BbRR
BbRr
nd
Nndd nndd
CCoo x ccOO
Expected: all CcOo in F1
CcOo x ccoo
Expected: 1:1:1:1 genotypic, 1 color: 3 white phenotypic.
The observed is exactly 1 color to 3 white, so as expected. Therefore, these genes are not
linked.
11. A black-bodied, purple-eyed Drosophila, mated with a homozygous gray, red-eyed
fly, produced all gray, red-eyed offspring. One of the female offspring mated with a
black, purple-eyed male and produced 104 gray, red, 94 black-purple, 6 gray, purple, and
7 black, red offspring. What is the percentage of crossing over between body color and
eye color?
12. A colorblind woman reproduces with a man with normal vision. What kind of
children would be expected from such a union? Color blindness is recessive and sexlinked.
13. A woman with normal vision reproduces with a man with normal vision and they
have a colorblind son. The husband dies and she reproduces with a colorblind man. Show
the types of children that might be expected from this second marriage and the proportion
of each.