Practice Problems in Mendelian Genetics

Important Note: Get in the habit right from the first of writing down the work necessary to solve the problems you do.
You will be required to show work on any assignment or exam problem.
I. Problems Involving One Gene
. In cats! long hair is recessive to short hair. " true#breeding $homo%ygous& short#haired male is mated
to a long#haired female. 'hat will their kittens look like(
). *wo cats are mated. +ne of the parent cats is long#haired $recessive allele&. *he litter which results
contains two short#haired and three long#haired kittens. 'hat does the second parent look like! and
what is its genotype(
,. -rs. "nd -r. .mith both have widow/s peaks $dominant&. *heir first child also has a widow/s peak! but
their second child doesn/t. -r. .mith accuses -rs. .mith of being unfaithful to him. Is he necessarily
0ustified( 'hy or why not( 'ork the genetics problem predicting the frequencies of the versions of
this trait among their prospective children.
1. -r. and -rs. 2ones have six children. *hree of them have attached earlobes $recessive& like their
father! and the other three have free earlobes like their mother. 'hat are the genotypes of -r. and
-rs. 2ones and of their numerous offspring(
3. -r. and -rs. "nderson both have tightly curled hair. $*he hair form gene shows incomplete
dominance. *here are two alleles! curly and straight. *he hetero%ygote has wavy hair.& *he "ndersons
have a child with wavy hair. -r. "nderson accuses -rs. "nderson of being unfaithful to him. Is he
necessarily 0ustified( 'hy or why not(
4. *wo wavy haired people $one male and one female& marry and have eight children. +f these eight! how
many would you expect to be curly haired! how many wavy haired and how many straight haired!
assuming that the family follows the expected statistically predicted pattern( .uppose you examine
the actual children and discover that three of the eight have curly hair. 'hat do you suppose went
wrong(
5. 6asic body color for horses is influenced by several genes! on of which has several different alleles.
*wo of these alleles7the chestnut $dark brown& allele and a diluting $pale cream& allele $often
incorrectly called 8albino/&7display incomplete dominance. " horse hetero%ygous for these two alleles
is a palomino $golden body color with flaxen mane and tail&. Is it possible to produce a herd of pure#
breeding palomino horses( 'hy or why not( 'ork the 9unnett/s square for mating a palomino to a
palomino and predict the phenotypic ratio among their offspring.
:. In certain portions of the 2ewish population! there is a genetic disease called *ay .achs disease!
which is fatal to infants within the first five years of life. *his disease is caused by a recessive allele
of a single gene. 'hy does this disease persist! even though it is invariably fatal long before the
afflicted individual reaches reproductive age( $In other words! why doesn/t the allele for *ay .achs
disease simply disappear(&
;. "bout :<= of the human population can taste the chemical phenolthiocarbamide $9*>&! while the
other )<= can/t. *his characteristic is governed by a single gene with two alleles! a tasting allele and
a non#tasting allele. 'hat does this statistic tell us about which allele $tasting or non#tasting& is
dominant(
<. In fruit flies! the gene for wing shape has an unusual allele called 8curly/ $designated 8>y/&. *he normal
$wild type& allele is designated 8cy./ " fly homo%ygous for cy $cy cy& has normal! straight wings. *he
hetero%ygote $>y cy& has wings which curl up on the ends $and! incidentally! can/t really fly&. *he
homo%ygote for the >y allele $>y >y& never hatches out of the egg. In other words! this allele is lethal
in the homo%ygous condition. If two curly winged flies are mated! and the female lays << eggs!
predict the following! showing appropriate work:
a. ?ow many eggs will produce living offspring(
b. ?ow many straight winged flies do you expect among the living offspring(
c. 'hat percentage of the living offspring do you expect to be curly winged like the parents(
. In cattle! there is an allele called dwarf which! in the hetero%ygote! produces calves with legs which
are shorter than normal. *his! again! is a homo%ygous lethal $the homo%ygous dwarf calves
spontaneously abort early or a stillborn&. If a dwarf bull is mated to 1<< dwarf cows! what phenotypic
ratio to you expect among the living offspring(
II. Problems Involving Two Genes
. " man with dark $dominant&! curly $see problem I.3.& hair marries a woman with light! straight hair. *heir
daughter! who happens to have dark hair! marries a man with light! wavy hair. "nswer the following questions
about this dark#haired daughter and her family.
a. @raw a 9unnett/s square for this marriage! and predict the phenotypic ratio among the offspring of the
daughter and her husband.
b. 'hat is the chance that they will have a child with hair 0ust like his or her father/s(
). In cats! again! black color is dominant to a special! temperature#sensitive albino gene which produces cats with
dark legs! faces and tails $.iamese cats! in case you don/t recogni%e it&. " short haired $dominant& .iamese
colored female is bred to a long#haired black male. *hey have eight kittens: ) black! short#hairedA ) black! long#
hairedA ) .iamese! short#hairedA and ) .iamese! long#haired. 'hat were the genotypes of the two parents(
,. Bli%abeth is married to 2ohn! and they have four children. Bli%abeth has a straight nose $recessive& and is able to
roll her tongue $dominant&. 2ohn is also able to roll his tongue! but he has a convex $Coman& nose $dominant&. +f
their four children! Bllen is 0ust like her father! and @an is 0ust like his mother. *he other children7"nne! who
has a convex nose! and 9eter! who has a straight nose7are unable to roll their tongues. 9lease answer the
following questions about this family.
a. 'hat are the genotypes of Bli%abeth and 2ohn(
b. Bli%abeth/s father was a straight#nosed roller! while her mother was a convex#nosed non#roller. 'hat can you
figure out about their genotypes(
c. 2ohn/s father was a straight#nosed roller! while his mother was a convex#nosed roller. 'hat can you
determine about their genotypes(
d. @iagram the three described generations of this family in accepted pedigree form! including the phenotypes
for these two traits.
1. If a pure#breeding $homo%ygous& black $dominant&! long#haired $recessive& cat is mated to a pure#breeding
.iamese! short#haired cat! and one of their male offspring is mated to one of their female offspring! what is the
chance of producing a .iamese colored! short#haired kitten(
3. In horses! one which runs best in water $or in wet conditions& is called $'"*BC&! and one which runs best in dry
conditions is called $@CY&. $'"*BC& is recessive to $@CY&. " horse can also be either a trotter! which we will
designate $G"I*& or a pacer! which we will designate $9">B&. $9">B& is recessive to $G"*B&. 'e have mated two
horses! a stallion named ?alter#-an and a mare named Brlich#-ane. ?alter#-an is a $'"*BC&$9">BC&! while
Brlich#mane is a $@CY&$G"I*&. +ne of Brlich#-ane/s parents was a $'"*BC&$9">BC&. 'hat are the chances of
Brlich#-ane and ?alter#-an producing a $'"*BC&$G"I*& foal $that/s a baby horse! in case you didn/t know&(
4. 'hen a male pig from a line of true#breeding $homo%ygous& black! solid#hooved pigs was crossed to a female from
a breed $homo%ygous& of red! cloven#hooved pigs! their several progeny all looked alike with regard to color and
hooves. *hese progeny were all mated to members of the same breed as their red! cloven#hooved mother pig. *he
offspring from this final cross were: black! cloven#hoovedA : black! solid#hoovedA 1 red! cloven#hoovedA and <
red! solid#hooved. Dor each of these two genes $coat color and hoof type& determine which allele is the dominant
one. Bxplain your reasoning. 'hat were the phenotypes of the progeny produced by the first mating in this
problem(
5. In garden peas! long stems are dominant to short stems! and yellow seeds are dominant to green seeds. <<
longEyellow pea plants! all of which had one shortEgreen parent! are interbred $bred to each other&. 4<< progeny
result. 9lease answer the following questions about these progeny.
a. "ssuming that these two genes are unlinked! about how many longEgreen pea plants would you expect to find
among the offspring(
b. 'hat ratio of yellow to green seed color would you expect among the offspring(
c. 'hat would you expect the overall phenotypic ratio among the 4<< offspring to be $taking into
consideration both traits&(
III. Problems Involving Sex Linkage
. 9lutonian *ickle#bellies have a sex determination system 0ust like mammals. ?airy .nout is a holandric trait
$carried on the Y chromosome&. -yxCotcccc! a handsome male *ickle#belly! has lovely orange hair on his snout.
?e and his mate! +rggg'ny! have six offspring! three boys and three girls. 9lease answer the following questions
about this family.
a. ?ow many of -yxCotcccc/s and +rggg'ny/s offspring have hairy snouts( >an you predict which ones(
b. *heir eldest son! 6ob! marries and has a son. 'hat is the chance that 6ob/s son will also have a hairy snout(
c. 2oFchew! -yxCotcccc/s and +rggg'ny/s youngest daughter! marries a male who has a smooth! hairless
purple snout. .he has eight offspring! each one lovelier than the last! and all boys. 'hat percentage of these
offspring do you expect to have hairy snouts( Bxplain.
). In fruit flies $@rosophila&! one eye color gene is G#linked! with a recessive white allele and a dominant red allele.
If white#eyed female flies are bred to red#eyed male flies! describe the expected offspring $assume all parental
flies are true#breeding&. 'hat results do you expect if you do the reciprocal cross $reverse the phenotypes of
the parent flies&(
,. Barl has normal color vision! while his wife Brma is colorblind. . >olorblindness is an G#linked trait! and the normal
allele is dominant to the colorblindness allele. If they have a large family! in what ways should the colorblindness
trait affect their children(
1. Bthan is colorblind. ?is wife! Bdna! is homo%ygous for the normal color vision allele. If they have eight children!
how man of them would you expect to be colorblind( Hsing 9unnett/s squares! derive and compare the genotypic
and phenotypic ratios expected for the offspring of this marriage and those expected for the offspring of the
marriage described in III.,.
3. -arian/s father is colorblind! as is her maternal grandfather $her mother/s father&. -arian herself has normal
color vision. -arian and her husband! -artin! who is also colorblind! have 0ust had their first child! a son they
have named -ickey. 9lease answer the following questions about this small family.
a. 'hat is the probability that this child will be colorblind(
b. *hree sources of the colorblindness allele are mentioned in this family. If -ickey is colorblind! from which
of these three men $-arian/s grandfather! -arian/s father! or -artin& did he inherit the allele(
c. Hsing proper pedigree format! diagram the available information about the four generations of this family
described! assuming that -ickey is colorblind.
d. If -artin were not colorblind! how would this affect the prediction about -ickey(
4. In cats! there is a coat color gene located on the G chromosome. *his gene is a different gene from the
blackE.iamese gene discussed in earlier problems. *his gene has two alleles7orange and black. " hetero%ygous
cat has tortoiseshell color $a splotchy mixture of orange and black&. 9redict the genotypic and phenotypic
frequencies among the offspring of the following crosses. 9ay careful attention to the genders of the offspring.
a. 6lack female G +range male
b. +range female G 6lack male
c. *ortoiseshell female G 6lack male
d. *ortoiseshell female G +range male
I. Problems Involving Genes !ith M"ltiple #lleles
. In a particular family! one parent has *ype " blood! the other has *ype 6. *hey have four children. +ne has *ype
"! one has *ype 6! one has *ype "6! and the last has *ype +. 'hat are the genotypes of all six people in this
family(
N+*B: *he "6+ blood type gene has three alleles. I
#
and I
$
are codominantA i $for *ype +& is recessive to both.
). Cefer to problem I.,. -rs. .mith has blood type ". -r. .mith has blood type 6. *heir first child has blood type
"6. *heir second child has blood type +. %ow is -r. .mith 0ustified( 'hat are -r. and -rs. .mith/s genotypes
for these two genes(
,. In a recent case in .pokane! 'ashington! a young woman accused a soldier of being the father of her child. *he
soldier! of course! denied it. *he soldier/s lawyer demanded that blood types be taken to prove the innocence of
his client. *he following results were obtained: "lleged father! *ype +. -other! *ype ". >hild! *ype "6. *he
court found the soldier guilty on the basis of the woman/s remarkable memory for dates and details that
apparently eliminated all other possible fathers.
a. 'hat are the possible genotypes for these three people(
b. @o you agree with the court/s decision( 'hy or why not(
1. It was suspected that two babies had been exchanged in a hospital. -r. and -rs. 2ones received baby I and -r.
and -rs. .imon received baby I). 6lood typing tests on the parents and the babies showed the following:
-r. 2ones: *ype " -r. .imon: *ype "6
-rs. 2ones: *ype + -rs. .imons: *ype +
6aby I: *ype " 6aby I) *ype +
'ere the babies switched( ?ow do you know whether they were or they weren/t(
3. " man with type + blood marries a woman with *ype "6 blood. "mong their children! what proportion would you
expect to have blood types like one or the other of these parents( 'hat proportion would have expect to have
blood types different from both parents( Bxplain.
4. You are a scientist performing the first analysis of the genetic basis for the inheritance of flower color in a
certain species of wildflower. You begin your investigation by observing that there are four different flower
colors in the local wild population: white! red! blue and purple. Your first assumption $hypothesis& is that you are
looking at the effects of a single gene! so operate under that assumption. You collect a variety of samples of all
colors! take them back to your greenhouse! and begin making crosses. Cemember! you are crossing members of a
wild population7you have no idea whether any of your plants are homo%ygous or hetero%ygous. ?ere are the
various results you observe:
'hite G 'hite "ll offspring always produce white flowers.
Ced G Ced
In some matings! all offspring produce red flowers.
In other matings! some of the offspring produce red flowers! some white!
with red flowering offspring outnumbering white flowering offspring.
6lue G 6lue
In some matings! all offspring produce blue flowers..
In other matings! some of the offspring produce blue flowers! some white
with blue flowering offspring outnumbering white flowering offspring.
9urple G 9urple
"lways produces a mixture of red! blue and purple flowering offspring!
with purple most frequent! followed by red and blue in roughly equal numbers!
'hite G Ced
In some matings! all offspring produce red flowers.
In other matings! some of the offspring produce red flowers! some white.
Ced and white occur in roughly equal numbers..
'hite G 6lue
In some matings! all offspring produce blue flowers.
In other matings! some of the offspring produce blue flowers! some white.
6lue and white occur in roughly equal numbers..
'hite G 9urple
"lways produces roughly equal numbers of blue flowering offspring
and red flowering offspring.
Ced G 6lue
"lways produces purple offspring! but in some matings also produces
red andEor blue offspring! andEor white offspring
Ced G 9urple "lways produces red and purple offspring! sometimes mixed with blue.
6lue G 9urple "lways produces blue and purple offspring! sometimes mixed with red.
a. ?ow many alleles are governing flower color in this plant( 'hat color does each of these alleles produce
$in other words! what colors are your homo%ygous plants&(
b. Bxplain the dominance relationships among your alleles! and explain the results of each of the crosses
described above.
N+*B: *his problem has a relatively high difficulty level.
5. " woman has a daughter. *here are three men whom she claims might have been the father of the child. *he
0udge in the paternity court orders that all three men! the child! and the mother have blood tests. *he results
are: mother! *ype "A @aughter! *ype +A -an I! *ype "6A -an I)! *ype 6A -an I,! *ype +. *he mother claims
that this proves that -an I, must be the little girl/s father.
a. Is the mother correct( 'hy or why not(
b. *he 0udge isn/t satisfied! so he asks for the medical records of the people involved. ?e discovers that
the little girl is colorblind. -en I/s and ) are also colorblindA -an I, has normal color vision! as does
the mother. $N+*B: >olorblindness is G#linked and recessive.& "ssuming that one of these three men
m"st be the father! can you now determine which of the three it is(
:. "nother woman has the same problem. ?er blood type is "! her child/s is 6. .he again has three candidates for
fatherhood. *heir blood types are: -an I! 6A -an I)! "6A -an I,! +. 6ased on blood types! the mother says it
must have been I.
a. @o you agree( 'hy or why not(
b. *his child! a son this time! is also colorblind. *he only one of the men in question to share this
characteristic is I). *he mother is not colorblind. >an you now determine who the father of the little
boy is! assuming it must be one of these men( Bxplain your answer.
Problems Involving Gene Interactions
. In cats! there is a gene which produces ticked fur $bands of different colors on each hair& called "gouti $?&. *he
recessive allele $h& for this gene produces hair which is a solid color from end to end. In addition! there is a coat
color gene which has a recessive albino allele $a& which! in the homo%ygote! prevents the production of any coat
color pigment! resulting in a white cat with pink eyes! the traditional albino. Note that this problem has
described two completely different genes. *hese genes are unlinked. "n albino female cat is mated to a solid
brown male cat. "ll of their offspring are "gouti. *he males and females among these offspring are allowed to
freely intermate! producing a flock of D
)
kittens. 9redict the phenotypic ratio for fur color among these many
grandkittens.
). In @rosophila $fruit flies&! the wild type eye color! brick red! is actually produced by the deposition of two
pigments in the eyes! a dull brown pigment and a brilliant red pigment. *hese two pigments are produced by the
action of two different! non#allelic $and non#linked& genes. Bach of these genes has two alleles! a dominant one
which causes normal the production of the pigment controlled by the gene! and a recessive one which is
defective! and causes none of that pigment to be produced. *hus! a normal eye#color fruit fly must have at least
one dominant allele for each of these genes.
If a fly is homo%ygous for the defective! recessive allele of the gene which produces the brown pigment! that fly
will have only the brilliant red pigment in its eyes. *his condition is called Jcinnabar.K Dor this reason! the gene
responsible for producing the brown pigment is called the JcinnabarK gene $genes are often named for the effect
their mutant alleles have on the phenotype&. *he symbol for this gene is a two#letter symbol! cn. *he dominant
allele is &n and the recessive allele is cn. >areful with this symbol. Never separate the c/s from the n/s. .o a
cinnabar#eyed fly would have the genotype cn cn.
If a fly is homo%ygous for the defective! recessive allele of the gene which produces the brilliant red pigment!
that fly will have only the dull brown pigment in its eyes. *his produces JbrownK eyes! so this gene is called the
JbrownK gene. *he symbol for this gene is br. *he dominant allele is $r! the recessive br. " brown#eyed fly would
be br br. "gain! be careful not to separate the b and the r.
Note that all flies have two alleles for each of these genes! so the cinnabar eyed fly would actually have the
genotype cn cn $r $r or cn cn $r br! and the brown eyed fly would actually have the genotype &n &n br br or
&n cn br br.
" mating is made between a &n &n br br fruit fly and a cn cn $r $r fruit fly. )<< offspring result $the D

&.
*hese offspring are allowed to freely interbreed! and produce 1<!<<< $whewL 'hatever happened to population
controlL& offspring $the D
)
&.
a. 'hat color eyes did the original parents have(
b. 'hat were the genotypes and phenotypes of the D

offspring(
c. 'hat color eyes do the cn cn br br flies have(
d. 'hat phenotypic ratio do you predict among the D) offspring(