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STEPS FOR WORKING OUT GENETIC CROSS PROBLEMS

1. Identify the trait, e.g., pea plant height.

2. Determine the different variations of the trait, e.g., tall and short.

3. Determine which form of the trait is dominant and which is recessive. In garden peas, tall is
dominant over short.

4. Choose a letter to represent the genes, usually the first letter of the dominant trait. T

5. Use an upper case letter to represent the dominant gene, and a lower case letter for the recessive gene.
T for tall; t for short

6. Determine the genotype of each parent in the cross. Tt x Tt


7. Draw a Punnett square and put the genes of one parent across the top and the genes of the other parent
down the side. (See Figure 1)

8. Fill in the Punnett square by bringing the letter over and down to fill in the blank spaces. (See Figure 2)

9. The genotypes of the offspring are the combinations of letters that fill in the Punnett square. (TT, Tt, tt)

10. The phenotypes of the offspring are written in words and represent the trait the organism has. (Tall,
short)

11. To determine the genotypic ratio, count the number of each genotype and write it as a ratio. (1TT, 2Tt,
1tt = 1:2:1 genotypic ratio)

12. To determine the phenotypic ratio, count the number of each phenotype and write it as a ratio. (3 tall,
1 short = 3:1 phenotypic ratio)

Step 6 Cross: Tt x Tt
Figure 1 Figure 2

T t T t
Results
T T TT Tt Genotypes – TT, Tt, tt
Phenotypes – Tall, Short
Genotypic ratio – 1:2:1
t t Tt tt Phenotypic ratio – 3:1
GENETIC PROBLEMS – MONOHYBRID CROSSES

Work out the crosses and answer the questions for each problem below on a separate sheet of paper. Make
sure you do all parts of each problem.

1. In peas, the gene for tallness (T) is dominant over the gene for shortness (t). Given the genotypes of the
parent plants, give the possible genotype(s) and phenotype(s) of the offspring of each cross:
a. Tt x Tt c. TT x tt e. Tt x tt
b. Tt x TT d. tt x tt f. TT x TT

2. In humans, the ability to roll one’s tongue (R) is dominant to the non-rolling condition (r).
a. Can two tongue rolling parents have a non-roller child?
b. Can two non-rollers have a child that is a tongue roller?
c. Can a roller and a non-roller have a child who is a tongue roller?
d. Can a roller and a non-roller have a child who is a non-roller?

3. White fruit color is dominant over yellow in squash. In a cross between a heterozygous white-fruited
plant and a yellow-fruited plant:
a. What are the possible genotypes and phenotypes of the offspring?
b. What are the genotypic and phenotypic ratios of the offspring?

4. In humans, polydactyly (extra fingers and toes) is dominant over the normal number of digits. Suppose a
man with the normal number of digits has children with a woman with polydactyly whose father had the
normal number of digits. What proportion of their children would be expected to have polydactyly?

5. Free (or unattached) earlobes is dominant over attached earlobes. If a man with free earlobes and a
woman with attached earlobes have ten children, all with free earlobes, can we be certain the man is
homozygous for the trait? If their eleventh child has attached earlobes, does that prove the fathers
genotype? Why or why not?

6. Huntington disease is a serious and ultimately fatal nervous system disorder in humans. The symptoms
don’t develop until after age 30 and the disorder is caused by a dominant gene. A man with Huntington
disease had a father who was also afflicted and a mother who was not. His wife does not have the
disease, although both her parents did. The couple have a daughter who develops the disease and a son
who does not. For which of the people mentioned can we be sure of their genotype? What are their
genotypes? What genotypes are possible for the others?

7. From a cross involving two fruit flies, both of which had normal wings, there were 79 normal- winged
and 27 dumpy-winged offspring produced:
a. Is the gene for normal wings dominant or recessive? How can you tell?
b. What is the genotype of each parent’?
GENETIC PROBLEMS – DIHYBRID CROSSES

Work out the crosses and answer the questions for each problem below on a sheet of notebook paper. Make
sure you show all of your work.

1. In peonies, straight stamens (S) are dominant over curved stamens (s), and plain petals (P) are dominant
over striped petals (p). If a plant that is homozygous for both dominant traits (SSPP) is crossed with a
plant that is homozygous for both recessive traits (sspp):

a. What are the genotypes of their offspring?


b. What are the phenotypes of their offspring?
c. If two members of the F, generation are later crossed, what would be the expected phenotypic
ratio of their offspring?

2. In mice, the gene for colored coat (C) is dominant over the gene for albino coat (c), and the gene for
straight whiskers (S) is dominant over the gene for bent whiskers (s). In a cross between two mice that
are both heterozygous for both traits (CcSs X CcSs):

a. What proportion of all the offspring would be expected to be albino?


b. What proportion would be expected to have bent whiskers?
c. What is the expected phenotypic ratio of all the offspring?

3. In maize plants, normal size (N) is dominant over pigmy size (n), and smooth leaves (S) are dominant
over crinkly leaves (s). If two maize plants, both heterozygous for plant size and leaf texture (NnSs) are
crossed and produce 160 offspring, how many of each of these would we expect to be produced?

a. Crinkly leaves
b. Normal size
c. Normal size and smooth leaves
d. Pigmy size and smooth leaves

4. In fruit flies, hairy body (H) is dominant over hairless body (h), and large wings (L) are dominant over
small wings (l). In a cross between a fly that is heterozygous for hairy body and large wings (HhLl) and a
fly that has a hairless body and short wings (hhll):

a. What are the genotypes of the offspring?


b. What is the phenotypic ratio of the offspring?
GENETIC REVIEW PROBLEMS

Use Punnett squares to work out the problems below and answer the questions on a sheet of notebook
paper.

1. Mel and Barbara are healthy, but they know from a blood test that they are both carriers (heterozygous)
of Tay-Sachs disease. Tay-Sachs disease occurs when a person inherits two recessive genes for the
condition. If their first three children are healthy, what is the probability that their fourth child will
inherit the disease?

2. A white mouse whose parents were both white produces only brown offspring when mated with a
brown mouse. What is the probable genotype of the white mouse?

3. When two garden pea plants with red flowers were crossed, they produced some offspring that had red
flowers and others that had white flowers. Which flower color is dominant and what is the genotype of
each parent plant?

4. In garden peas, axial flowers are dominant over terminal flowers and tall plants are dominant over short
plants. In a cross between a plant that is homozygous for tall height and axial flowers and a plant that is
short with terminal flowers, what are the genotype(s) and phenotype(s) of their offspring?

5. If two pea plants that are both heterozygous for tall height and axial flowers were crossed, what will be
the probable phenotypes of their offspring and their phenotypic ratio?

6. What are the probable genotype(s) and phenotype(s) of offspring of a cross between a heterozygous tall
pea plant and a short pea plant?

7. If a pea plant that is heterozygous for round, yellow seeds is crossed with a plant that has wrinkled,
green seeds, give the probable genotypes and phenotypes of the offspring.

8. Albinism is recessive to normal skin pigmentation.


a. Is it possible for two parents who are both albinos to have children that have normal skin
pigmentation?
b. Is it possible for two people with normal skin pigmentation to have an albino child?

9. Colorblindness is a recessive sex-linked trait. A colorblind man and a woman with normal vision have
children.
a. What would be the possible genotypes if the woman’s father had normal vision?
b. What would be the phenotypic ratio of offspring if her father was colorblind?

10. If we wanted to make sure that our tall pea plants always produced only tall offspring, how would we
go about doing this?

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