BIO 101 - Module 2

Practice Questions

1) Which of the following will be pure breeding for only one character?
A. Hh Rr
B. HH Rr
C. HH RR
D. hh rr

2) If you cross homozygous recessive short plant with heterozygous purple flower to
heterozygous tall plant with heterozygous purple flower, what will be the expected
phenotypic ratio?
A. 9:3:3:1
B. 4:4:2:2
C. 3:1:3:1
D. 1:2:1:2:4:2:1:2:1

3) If you have an organism with the genotype Pp HH rr Ww this can be used as a parent
in test cross for________
A. H locus
B. R locus
C. W locus
D. P locus

4) In an organism you observe that phenotypes of the progeny are as – 315 H/_ R/_, 108
H/- r/r, 101 h/h R/-, 32 h/h r/r. This shows_____
A. Linkage
B. 1:2:2:1 ratio
C. Normal ratio
D. 1:1:1:1 ratio

5) By crossing a homozygous short plant with a heterozygous tall plant, you get 41 tall
plants in the F1 generation. What will be the expected number of short plants in F1?
A. 12
B. 42
C. 60
D. 80
6) A tall green pea plant that is homozygous dominant for both traits is crossed with a
short yellow pea plant that is recessive for both traits. What are the expected phenotypic
and genotypic ratios of F1 progeny?

Ans. Tall: T and short: t

Green: G and yellow: g
Cross: Parent 1 is homozygous dominant so TTGG
Parent 2 is homozygous recessive so ttgg (initially will act as a test cross as in test
cross both traits are taken as recessive and homozygous)
Cross: TTGG × ttgg
Gametes: P1: TG TG TG TG and P2: tg tg tg tg
By using a punnett square we get: All TtGg which are Tall and Green plants with ratio 1.

7) Wolves are sometimes observed to have black coats and blue eyes. Assume further that
normal coat color (N) is dominant to black (n) and brown eyes (B) are dominant to blue
(b). Suppose the alpha male and alpha female of a pack (these are the dominant
individuals who do most of the breeding) are black with blue eyes and normal colored
with brown eyes, respectively. Note that the female is heterozygous for both traits. What
are the possible genotypes of the offspring?

Ans. Parent 1: nnbb (black and blue)

Parent 2: NnBb (normal and brown; heterozygous)
Cross: NnBb × nnbb
Gametes: P1: NB Nb nB nb and P2: nb nb nb nb
Performing a Punnett square we get:
4 NnBb : 4 Nnbb : 4 nnBb : 4 nnbb
4 Normal coats brown eyed: 4 Normal coats blue-eyed: 4 black coats brown eyed: 4 black
coat blue eyed

8) Some dogs are known to bark when trailing prey, while others remain silent. We know
that the barking trait is due to a dominant gene. Further note that erect ears are dominant
over drooping ears. Suppose we mate an erect-eared barker (who is heterozygous for both
traits) to a droopy-eared silent trailer. What are the expected phenotypic and genotypic
ratios of F1 progeny?

Ans. Barking: B and silent: b

Standing Ears: S and Drooping ears: s
Cross: SsBb × ssbb
Gametes: SB Sb sB sb × sb sb sb sb
Draw a Punnett square and you will get:
4 SsBb: 4 Ssbb : 4 ssBb : 4ssbb
4 standing-eared barker: 4 standing-eared silent: 4 drooping eared barker: 4 drooping
eared silent

9) You are doing a genetics experiment with the fruit fly. In the “P” generation, you cross
two true-breeding flies. The female parent is brown and wingless, and the male parent is
black with normal wings. All of the flies in the F1 generation are brown and have normal
wings.

When you count the F2 generation, you get 85 brown-winged flies, 728 black-winged
flies, 712 brown-wingless flies, and 75 black-wingless flies. What is the genetic distance
between the colour and wing genes?

Ans. As per the question, we know the parental phenotype thus, non-parental are brown-
winged (85) and black-wingless (75)

Genetic Distance: [(75+85) ÷ (728+712+85+75)] × 100 = 10cM

10) Assume that we sent TA Salman to Mars. After returning safely, he brought plant
samples which are either bright red or white-flowered. All the other features, i.e., the
phenotype of plants, are the same. The plant sample is named Marpho. Describe a short
experiment that you can conduct to conclude the genotype of the flower colour.

Ans. Self cross bright red flowers and white flowers separately to see whether they are
homozygous or heterozygous for the flower colour trait. Cross them with each other to
see which one is dominant.

11) In Mendel's experiments, the inflated pod shape character was completely dominant
over the constricted pod shape character. If the trait for colour was incompletely
dominant, such that YY are yellow, Yy are yellow-green and yy are green, what would be
the phenotypes resulting from crossing a Green Inflated Pod shape (yyPp) plant to a
yellow-green, constricted pod shaped (Yypp) plant?

Ans.

yP yp

Yp YyPp Yypp

yp yyPp yypp

Yellow-Green Inflated:Yellow-Green Constricted:Green Inflated:Green Constricted

1:1:1:1
12) Drosophila eye-color is controlled by a gene on its X chromosome. A cross is set up
between purebred red-eyed females and white-eyed males. The F1 females are further
mated with normal males. Given that white is recessive to red, what is the F1 and F2
progenies phenotypes that you expect? - Slide 34 Genetics 123

Ans.

F1 Progeny XW XW

Xw XWXw XWXw

Y XWY XWY

100% Red Eyed Progeny

F2 Progeny XW Xw

XW XWXW XWXw

Y XWY XwY

75% Red Eyed : 25% White Eyed

100% Red Eyed Females
50% Red Eyed Males
50% White Eyed Males

13) Body colour & wing shape in Drosophila Melanogaster are controlled by two genes;
Brown & Vestigial. Please note that for Drosophila, the gene is named after the mutant. If
you test cross F1, resulting from a cross of purebred brown body flies with vestigial wings
and purebred wild type, the following is the progeny you get:

206 brown body with wild-type wings

185 wild-type body with vestigial wings
944 brown body with vestigial wings
965 wild-type body with wild-type wings

Given that wild-type phenotypes are dominant over mutant phenotypes (brown and
vestigial), respectively, what will be the distance between the two genes in centimorgans?
Give your answer to 2 significant figures. - Slide 29 and 30 Genetics 123

Ans.
 185 + 206 391
185 + 206 + 944 + 965
× 100% = 2300
× 100% = 0. 17 × 100% = 17 𝑐𝑀

17 cM

14) A sexually reproducing animal has two unlinked genes, one for head shape (H) and
one for tail length (T). Its genotype is HhTt. What are the possible gametes for these
genotypes (Test Bank)

Ans. HT, hT, Ht, ht

15) In humans, male-pattern baldness is controlled by an autosomal gene that occurs in

two allelic forms. Allele Hn determines nonbaldness, and allele Hb determines pattern
baldness. In males, the allele Hb is dominant over Hn because of the presence of
testosterone. If a man and woman both with genotype HnHb have a son, what is the
chance that he will eventually be bald? (Test Bank)

Ans. 75 %

16) A purebred tall plant is crossed with a purebred short plant. All the plants in F1 are
tall. Tall is dominant over short. What are the possible genotypes when F1 is self-crossed?
Solve through both genetic crosses and Punnett square.

Ans. TT, Tt, Tt, tt

17) A couple is expecting their second child. What is the probability of them having a girl,
given that their firstborn is a girl too?

Ans. 1/2

18) Short tails (T) are dominant to long tails(t). Assume that the length of the tail is an
X-linked trait. Given that all the male mice in F1 have long tails and all the female mice
have short tails, what are the genotypes of F0?

Ans. Xt Xt and XTY

19) A rabbit from F1 had a grey coat and black eyes. When this was test crossed with a
rabbit with a white coat and black eyes, all the offspring had a grey coat. What is the
genotype of the F1 rabbit?

Ans. GGbb
20) Given that in pea plants, Round is dominant over Wrinkled. You crossed purebred
Round, and wrinkled peas and the F1 was then self-crossed. A round pea plant from the
F2 was then crossed with a pea known to have a heterozygous genotype for its shape. All
the peas in F3 are Round. What was the genotype of the pea plant selected from F2?

Ans. RR

21) Cinnabar eye is an X-linked recessive mutation in fruit flies. If a female having
cinnabar eyes is crossed with a wild-type male, what percentage of the F1 males will have
cinnabar eyes? (Test Bank)

Ans. 100 %

21) A fly from F1, which is heterozygous for its body colour and shape of the wing, is test
crossed with a black vestigial fly. These two genes are 12cM apart and autosomal. If F2
has 1560 flies, what is the total number of recombinants in the entire F2?

Ans. 187

22) A wild-type fruit fly (heterozygous for gray body color and normal wings) is mated
with a black fly with vestigial wings. The offspring have the following phenotypic
distribution: wild type, 778; black-vestigial, 785; black-normal, 158; gray-vestigial, 162.
What is the distance between these genes for body color and wing size. (Test Bank)

Ans. 17 cM

23) You are studying development in a new species of fruit fly, Drosophila mit-ensis, and
you find a fly that has curly wings as seen here:

a) The Curly wings phenotype is due to a mutation at a single locus. Assume that
you have flies that are true-breeding for the curly wing phenotype (cur/cur) and
flies that are true-breeding for normal wings (+/+).

I. Propose a genetic cross to determine whether the mutant phenotype is

dominant or recessive, and list the genotype(s) of the F1 offspring you
would obtain from this cross. Use cur for the allele associated with curly
wings and + for the allele associated with normal wings
 Ans.

F1 Progeny cur cur

+ +/cur +/cur

+ +/cur +/cur

100% +/cur obtained, heterozygous for wing loci.

II. What phenotype(s) would you expect to see in the F1 generation if the
mutant phenotype is dominant? In what proportion would you see these
phenotypes?

Ans. 100% Curly Winged

III. What phenotype(s) would you expect to see in the F1 generation if the
mutant phenotype is recessive? In what proportion would you see these
phenotypes?

Ans. 100% Normal Winged

b) You perform the experiment and find that the curly wing phenotype is recessive. A
friend of yours has been studying a mutation that causes short antennae. The
short antenna phenotype is recessive to the wild-type long antenna phenotype.
You designate the mutant allele (ant) and the wild-type allele (+).

You set up the following crosses:

I. What type of cross is cross 2?

Ans. Test Cross

If the two genes are unlinked…

 I. What phenotypic classes do you expect to see from cross 2 and in what
ratios?

Ans.

F2 Progeny + cur ++ ant + ant cur

ant cur +/ant cur/cur +/ant +/cur ant/ant +/cur ant/ant cur/cur

Long Antennae Curly Wings:Long Antennae Normal Wings:Short

Antennae Normal Wings:Short Antennae Curly Wings
1:1:1:1

II. Could these two genes be located on the same chromosome? Explain

Ans. Yes, these two genes can be located on the same chromosome, but far
enough apart the recombination frequency is 50%.

c) You perform cross 2, examine 1000 progeny and see that the genes are linked. In
the table below, give the genotypes and phenotypes for the parental and
recombinant progeny.

Please note that you must use the following nomenclature. Use cur and + for the
alleles of the wing gene. Use ant and + for the alleles of the antennae gene.

Number of Progeny Genotype Phenotype

+/ant cur/cur Long Antennae Curly Wings

Parental 431 + 429
ant/ant +/cur Short Antennae Normal Wings

+/ant +/cur Long Antennae Normal Wings

Recombinant 69 + 71
ant/ant cur/cur Short Antennae Curly Wings

d) What is the recombination frequency between the wing and the antennae genes?

Ans.

69 + 71 140
69 + 71 + 431 + 429
× 100% = 1000
× 100% = 0. 14 × 100% = 14 𝑐𝑀
 14 cM

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