Study Questions for Lectures on Inheritance

This study guide provides examples for the types of questions that you might see on the first term from the
lectures over Mendelian inheritance and complex inheritance. This is NOT an exhaustive list of all content that
might be covered on the exam. Use your notes from lecture and the lecture slides and audio on Canvas to
know what all topics have been covered.

1. What is the difference between genotype and phenotype?

Genotype is the genetic makeup of an organism (the alleles it carries), phenotype is the traits it
exhibits (its physical appearance). The phenotype is determined by the genotype and by the
environment
2. What is the difference between heterozygous and homozygous?
Heterozygous means having two different alleles for a given gene, homozygous means two copies of
the same allele
a. If you know purple flower color is dominant over white flower color, is a white flower
heterozygous or homozygous? Explain your answer.
To exhibit the recessive phenotype, the white flower must be homozygous recessive
b. If you know purple flower color is dominant over white flower color, is a purple flower
heterozygous or homozygous? Explain your answer.
The dominant phenotype is exhibited by both the homozygous dominant genotype and the
heterozygous genotype. Given only this information, we cannot be sure of the genotype of
this plant.

3. How do each of the following contribute to genetic diversity in a population? Why is genetic diversity
important? Genetic diversity is important for maintaining a healthy population and responding to
new selective pressures (we will get into more detail on this in the next couple weeks)
a. Sexual reproduction: ‘shufffles’ whole genomes from two different individuals
b. Independent assortment ‘shuffles’ sets of chromosomes and allows an organism to make
millions of genetically unique gametes
c. Recombination: ‘shuffles’ alleles on a given chromosome, creates new chromosome
combinations different than what the organism inherited

4. In squash, white flower color (allele R) is dominant over yellow flower color (allele r). Draw a Punnett
Square demonstrating each cross. Include the genotype and phenotype of the offspring. Note: the x in
each line stands for ‘crossed with’
a. RR x rr b. Rr x rr c. Rr x Rr
5. For each example below, complete a Punnett Square for the cross described. If letters denoting the
allele are not provided, choose your own letters to represent each allele. All traits show complete
dominance. Make sure to provide the genotypes and phenotypes of the offspring.
a. A tall plant (TT) is crossed with a short plant (tt)
b. A green pea (Gg) is crossed with a yellow pea (gg)
c. A homozygous recessive tan mouse is crossed with a homozygous dominant brown mouse
d. Two heterozygous white rabbits mate (brown is the recessive color).

6. Many animals and plants bear recessive alleles for albinism, a condition in
which homozygous individuals completely lack any pigments. If two
normally-pigmented persons heterozygous for the albinism allele mate,
what percentage of their offspring would you expect to be albino?
25%

7. You cross a plant with red flowers and a plant with white flowers, expecting to get some red-flowered
plants and some white-flowered plants. Instead, you get all pink-flowered plants. What happened?
What were the genotypes of the initial plants?
From your prediction, you believed this trait was complete/simple dominant and that your red-
flowered plant was heterozygous. The results of your cross indicate that the trait is actually
intermediate/incomplete dominant and your plants were both homozygous.

8. In tomatoes, the texture of the skin may be smooth or ‘hairy’ (like a peach). You cross a hairy-fruited
plant with a smooth-fruited plant and produce an F1 generation of all smooth-fruited plants. A cross
between these F1 offspring produces an F2 generation of 174 hairy fruited plants and 520 smooth
fruited plants. Which phenotype is dominant? What were the genotypes of the initial parents?
The fact that the entire F1 generation is smooth, and the F2 generation is ~3:1 smooth indicates that
smooth is the dominant trait and that the initial parents were homozygous dominant and
homozygous recessive

9. A brown mink is crossed with a silverblue mink, and all the offspring are brown. When these F 1 brown
minks mate, they produce 47 brown offspring and 15 silverblue offspring. Determine the genotypes of
the original brown and silverblue mink, the genotypes of the F1 generation and the genotypes of the F2
generation. What fraction of the F2 individuals would you expect to be homozygous?

This pattern of inheritance (F1 all brown, F2 3 brown:1

silverblue) indicates that brown is the dominant phenotype
and the original parents were homozygous dominant and
homozygous recessive. The F1 offspring are all heterozygous
and we would expect the F2s to be 1 BB:2 Bb:1 bb. We
would expect 50% of the F2s to be homozygous (25%
homozygous dominant and 25% homozygous recessive)
10. In pea plants, tall stems are dominant to short stems, and purple flower color is dominant to white
flower color.
a. If a homozygous tall, white plant is crossed with a homozygous short, purple plant, what will be
the phenotype of the F1 generation?
Parent genotypes are TTpp and ttPP, all F1 offspring will be TtPp, tall and purple
b. If an F1 plant from this cross is then crossed with to a homozygous tall white plant, what will be
the possible phenotypes of the offspring, and in what expected proportions?
Parent genotypes are TtPp and TTpp; Offspring will be 50% tall purple, 50% tall white

11. Two plants that are heterozygous for seed color

(yellow is dominant, green is recessive) and seed
texture (smooth is dominant, wrinkled is
recessive) are crossed. (Hint: this is called a
dihybrid cross, you will need a large Punnett
Square, refer to Fig 12.4 in the textbook for
assistance).
a. What percentage of the offspring would
you expect to have smooth green seeds?
3/16 or 18.75%
b. What percentage of the offspring would
you expect to have wrinkled yellow
seeds?
3/16 or 18.75%
c. What percentage of their offspring would
you expect to be heterozygous for both
traits?
4/16 or 25%

12. In a certain type of flower, the dominant color is blue (B) and the recessive color is red (b). Two
heterozygote blue flowers are crossed.
a. What are the potential genotypes of this cross? BB, Bb, and bb
b. What are the potential phenotypes of this cross if this trait exhibits simple dominance?
BB and Bb are blue, bb is red
c. What are the potential phenotypes of this cross if this trait exhibits co-dominance?
BB is blue, bb is red, and Bb is blue and red stripes or splotches (both homozygous
phenotypes are expressed)
d. What are the potential phenotypes of this cross if this trait exhibits intermediate dominance?
BB is blue, bb is red, and Bb is purple (homozygous phenotypes blended)
 13. Flower color in the blue-eyed Mary (Collinsia parviflora) is controlled by two separate genes. The first
controls the color of pigment and is called the ‘blue’ gene. The dominant allele (B) produces blue
flowers, while recessive alleles (b) produces magenta flowers. This trait exhibits simple dominance, so
heterozygote plants (Bb) also have blue flowers. The second gene, called the ‘white’ gene, produces a
compound that is required for the pigment of the B gene to be produced correctly. This trait also
exhibits simple dominance, so flowers with genotype FF or Ff will exhibit whatever flower color is
indicated by the blue gene. Plants that are homozygous recessive (ff), however, will exhibit no
pigmentation in their petals and will produce only white flowers regardless of their genotype at the
blue gene.

What flower color will each genotype listed below produce?

a. BBFF Blue

b. Bbff White

c. BbFf Blue

d. bbFf Magenta

e. You own a white flowered-plant and a magenta-flowered plant. Crosses between your two
plants always produce blue-flowered plants. What are the genotypes of the parent plants?
What are the genotypes of the offspring?
To solve this problem, start with what is known about the genotypes of each plant given its
flower color and then fill in the other alleles based on the inheritance pattern.
The known information just from the flower color is __ff x bbF_ = B_F_
Given that the magenta parent is bb, the offspring must be Bb and the white parent must be
BB (if the white parent was Bb, some of the offspring would be magenta).
Given that the white parent is ff, the offspring must be Ff and the magenta parent must be FF
(if the magenta parent was Ff, some of the offspring would be white).
Consequently, we can fill in all the alleles: BBff x bbFF = BbFf

14. Blood type in humans is controlled by two genes, one which controls ‘type’ (A, B, or O) and the other
which controls Rh factor (positive or negative). At the first gene, the A and B alleles exhibit complete
dominance over the O allele, and the A and B alleles exhibit codominance with each other. At the
second gene, the Rh-positive allele (+) exhibits complete dominance over the Rh-negative allele (-). In
the table below, fill in the phenotype (blood type) for each genotype. For example, the genotype BO+/-
has a B allele and an O allele at the first gene; an Rh-positive allele and an Rh-negative allele at the
second gene, which results in the blood type B-positive.

Genotype AA+/+ AB+/- AB+/+ OO-/- AO+/- BO-/- BB+/- AB-/-

Phenotype A-pos AB-pos AB-pos O-neg A-pos B-neg B-pos AB-neg

 15. Two parents believe their baby was switched at the hospital with someone else’s child. The parents
have blood types A-positive and B-positive, and the baby has blood type O-negative. Do the blood
types indicate this baby does not belong to these parents?
To answer this question, list all the possible genotypes for the parents and the baby and then check
if any combination of parental genotypes could produce any of the offspring genotypes.
Father Mother Baby
AA+/+ BB+/+ OO-/-
AO+/+ BO+/+ If both parents are heterozygous for both traits
AA+/- BB+/- (AO+/- and BO+/-), then they could have an OO-/-
AO+/- BO+/- baby. There is no evidence this baby was switched

Sex-Linked Inheritance
16. In humans, a single gene found on the X chromosome controls for the disease hemophilia. Individuals
with hemophilia lack a protein required for clotting blood. When injured, hemophiliacs bleed
excessively, and may even bleed to death after relatively minor cuts or bruises. The hemophilia gene
has two alleles, H and h. The trait exhibits simple dominance, with the dominant phenotype of normal
protein production (XH) and the recessive phenotype of hemophilia (Xh). In the table below, indicate
the sex of each patient, and whether he or she is healthy, a carrier (carries the hemophiliac gene, but
does not suffer from the disease), or a hemophiliac.

Genotype Sex Disease Status

(healthy, carrier, or hemophiliac)
XHXH Female Healthy
XHY Male Healthy
XhXh Female Hemophiliac
XhY Male Hemophiliac
XHXh Female Carrier

17. Show the cross of a man who has hemophilia and a woman who is a
carrier. What is the probability that their children will have the
disease? How does that probability change with the sex of the child?
Overall, 50% of offspring will have hemophilia. In this cross, the
probability is the same in both sexes
18. A woman who is a carrier of hemophilia has children with a non-
hemophilliac man. Show the cross and determine the probability that
their children will have hemophilia. What sex will any hemophiliac
children be? 25% of children will have hemophilia, all will be male
Daughters will be 50% healthy and 50% carriers
19. A woman who has hemophilia has children with a non-hemophiliac
man. Show the cross and determine the probability that their children
will have hemophilia and what the sex of the hemophiliac children will
be.
All male offspring will have hemophilia (expected 50% of total
offspring). All female offspring will be carriers.
20. Why are X-linked recessive diseases more common in men than women?
Since men only have one X chromosome, a single disease allele will cause them to exhibit the
disease. With two X chromosomes, women must inherit two disease alleles in order to exhibit the
disease. Since these alleles are often somewhat rare, it is less likely for a woman to inherit two
disease alleles than for a man to inherit one.
21. If a man has an X-linked disease, what proportion of his sons would you expect to inherit that disease
from him? Explain your answer
None. A man inherits a Y chromosome from his father. If he has the disease, he inherited it from his
mother through the X chromosome he inherited from her.
22. In fruit flies, eye color is a sex linked trait. Red (XR) is dominant to white (Xr)
a. What are the sexes and eye colors of flies with the following genotypes:

XRXr Female, Red XRY Male, Red

XRXR Female Red X r Y Male, White

b. What are the genotypes of the following fly phenotypes (NOTE: there may be more than one
possible genotype):

white eyed, male XrY red eyed female XRXR, XRXr

 white eyed, female XrXr red eyed, male XRY

23. Draw the potential results of a cross between a white eyed female fly with a red-eyed male.
a. What percentage of the male offspring would you expect to
have red eyes? Explain your answer None, because they
inherit a white allele from the mother
b. What percentage of the female offspring would you expect
to have white eyes? Explain your answer. None, because
they inherit a red allele from the father
Pedigrees
24. The pedigree below shows the passing on of straight thumbs (recessive) and Hitchhiker’s thumb
(dominant). Shaded shapes mean the person has a straight thumb. Hitchhiker’s thumb is NOT an X-
linked trait
a. Is individual IV-2 heterozygous or homozygous for
this trait? Explain your answer. We
cannot be certain, they could be either. Given
that the parents are both heterozygous,
and IV-2 does have hitchhiker’s thumb, they
have a 33% chance of being HH and a
66% chance of being Hh.
b. Why is there a double line (as opposed to
a single line) between individuals III-1 and III-2? (Hint: what is different about this pairing than
the other matings shown on the pedigree, represented by a single line) The double line
represents inbreeding. Persons III-1 and III-2 are first cousins
c. In this pedigree, straight thumbs is not a very common phenotype. Propose an explanation for
why the only individuals on this pedigree that have the recessive phenotype are the offspring of
III-1 and III-2 and not any of the other matings shown on the pedigree. Related individuals are
more likely to carry the same recessive alleles. That means their offspring are more likely to
inherit the recessive allele from both parents and express the recessive phenotype.

25. Domestication of animals frequently results in predictable changes in physical traits that are not
directly being selected; examples include floppy ears, short/curly tails, white face markings, curly hair,
etc. Describe two genetic mechanisms that might explain why these traits are consistently more
common in domesticated animals than their wild relatives.

It is possible these genes are linked. If genes contributing to tameness are on the same chromosomes as
genes relating to floppy ears, curly tails, etc, then breeding for tameness will also increase these other traits
in the population.
It is also possible that the genes for tameness are pleiotropic and also impact these physical traits directly.
 26. The pedigree below shows the inheritance of alkaptonuria, a biochemical disorder. Males are shown
with boxes and females with circles, purple shapes represent individuals with alkaptonuria.

a. Is this condition caused by a dominant allele or

a recessive allele? Provide evidence from the
pedigree to support your answer.
Recessive. Carla has the condition and neither
of her parents do (they must be heterozygous
and she inherited the recessive alleles)
b. Which individuals’ genotypes can be deduced
from this pedigree? Label all the persons
whose genotype can be determined. Which
individuals’ genotypes cannot be determined?
All purple individuals are aa. Ann and Michael must be Aa in order to have aa offspring. The
same is true for George. Sam and Ann must be Aa since they inherited an a allele from one
parent (Arlene) and do not exhibit the trait. The same is true for Daniel and Alan. Sandra,
Tina, and Christopher are A_, but we cannot determine the second allele with certainty.
Note: students will think we can be certain Sandra is AA given that both her children carry an
A allele. Two offspring is far too small a sample size to be certain of this. Even if she is Aa,
there is a 25% chance that her two offspring both inherit her A allele
Linkage Mapping
27. You have isolated three new recessive mutations in Drosophila: green-eye (g), fuzzball (f), and crooked
wing (c). You cross homozygous parents to create several heterozygous F1s with genotype GgFf, GgCc,
and GgFfCc. A GgFf x ggff cross reveals the following gamete frequencies: 39% GF, 11% Gf, 9% gF, and
41% gf. A GgCc x ggcc cross reveals gamete frequencies of 49% GC, 2% Gc, 2% gC, and 47% gc.
Do these crosses suggest that the F and C genes are linked? Explain your answer
Yes. The crosses first determine if G and F are linked and then if G and C are linked. If these genes
were unlinked, we would expect the resulting offspring ratios to be even. The offspring ratios are
very uneven in both crosses, meaning that genes G and F are linked and genes G and C are linked.
This then means that all three genes are on the same chromosome, indicating that F and C are also
linked.

28. You are studying four recessive mutations in Drosophila: little wing (l), maroon body pigment (m), giant
antennae (g), and big eye (b). You cross homozygous parents to create several heterozygous F1s with
genotype LlMm, LlGg and MmGg. Crosses between the F1 individuals and homozygous recessive
individuals (ex: LlMm x llmm) indicate gamete production in the following frequencies:

Gamete Freq Gamete Freq Gamete Freq

LM 0.37 LG 0.26 GB 0.47
lm 0.36 lg 0.24 gb 0.45
lM 0.13 lG 0.27 gB 0.03
Lm 0.14 Lg 0.23 Gb 0.05

a. Which of the four genes you are studying are linked?

Genes L and M are linked and genes G and B are linked, which you can tell because their
gamete frequency is uneven. If genes are unlinked, we expect their distribution into gametes to
be roughly even (like genes L and G, which are unlinked). Given this information, we can also
determine that genes M and B are unlinked (because M is on the same chromosome as L, and G
is on the same chromosome as B and we know that L and G are on different chromosomes)
b. Of the genes that are linked, which are closest together on the chromosome?
The closer together two genes are on a chromosome, the less frequently we will see their
alleles be separated by recombination. Alleles from genes G and B are inherited together more
frequently (their gamete frequencies are more uneven) than alleles from genes L and M,
meaning that genes G and B are closer together on the chromosome than genes L and M.