M3 WHILE TASK for Lab Exercise 10.

MENDELIAN MODE
OF INHERITANCE AND PEDIGREE ANALYSIS

1. Dent disease is a rare disorder of the kidney in which there is impaired reabsorption of filtered
solutes and progressive renal failure. The following pedigree shows the pattern of inheritance for
this disorder.

a. On the basis of this pedigree, what is the

most likely mode of inheritance
for the disease? Y-linked trait inheritance

b. From your answer to part a, give the most likely genotypes for the
following persons in the pedigree:

I-1: Aa
II- 5: Aa
III- 1: Aa
IV- 2: Aa
I-2: aa
II- 8: aa
III- 3: aa
IV- 1: aa

2. The following pedigree illustrates the inheritance of Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, a condition
characterized by progressive weakness and degeneration of skeletal muscles due to absence of
dystrophin.
a. On the basis of this pedigree, what do you think is the most likely mode of
inheritance for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy? Y-linked trait

b. If couple III-7 and III-8 have another child, what is the probability that the
child will have Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy? 25%

c. If III-2 and III-7 mated, what is the probability that one of their children
would have the disease? 50%

3. Consider the pedigree diagram of phenotypes below:

a. Assuming the shaded individuals have an autosomal recessive trait, count the
individuals with:
● homozygous genotype: 7
● heterozygous genotype: 4
● unknown genotype: 4

4. A man with a specific unusual genetic trait marries an unaffected woman

and they have four children. Pedigrees of this family are shown in parts (a)
through (c), but the presence or absence of the trait in the children is not
indicated. For each type of inheritance, indicate how many children of each
sex are expected to express the trait by filling in the appropriate circles and
squares.

a. Autosomal recessive trait b. Autosomal dominant trait c. X-linked dominant trait

5. Rod is colorblind. His mother and father have normal vision, but his maternal grandfather is
colorblind. All Rod’s other grandparents have normal color vision. Rod has three sisters—Aida, Lorna,
and Fe, all with normal color vision. Rod’s oldest sister, Aida, is married to a man with normal color
vision; they have two children, a colorblind boy and a girl with normal color vision.

a. Using correct symbols, draw a pedigree of Rod’s family.

b. What is the most likely mode of inheritance for color blindness in Rod’s family?

● The mode of transmission is through autosomal recessive inheritance

c. If Rod marries a woman who has no family history of color blindness, what is the probability that
their first child will be a colorblind male?

● The chance their first child will be a colorblind male 50%