Genetics problems
Level 1:
1. In Coleus, some plants have shallowly crenated edges and others have deeply
incised leaves. A cross is made between homozygous deep and shallow individuals.
The shallow trait is dominant.
a. Using E and e to symbolize the genes for this trait, give the phenotypic
andgenotypic ratios for the F1 generation.
b. If self-pollination is allowed, what is the phenotypic ratio for the F2
generation?
2. a. In a pea plant that only breeds tall pea plants, what possible gametes can be
produced?Use the symbol D for tall, d for dwarf.
b. In a pea plant that breeds only dwarf pea plants, what possible
gametes will beproduced?
c. What will be the genotype of F1 offspring from a cross between these two
types?
d. Assuming that the allele for tall is dominant, what will be the phenotype of F1
offspring from a cross between these two types?
e. What will be the probable distribution of traits in the F2 generation? (Illustrate
with a Punnett square).
3. The ability to taste a bitter chemical, phenylthiocarbamide (PTC), is due to a
dominant gene. Use T and t to symbolize the two alleles of this gene.
a. What is the genotype of a nontaster? What are the possible genotypes of a
taster?
b. Could a person with two tasters as parents be a non-taster? How?
4. A woman heterozygous for polydactyly (extra fingers and toes), a dominant trait,
is married to a normal man. What is the probability of producing an offspring that
has extra fingers or toes?
5. Parents who do not have Tay Sachs disease produce a child who has this terrible
affliction. What are the chances that each child born of this union will be affected?
6. In human beings, ability to curl the tongue into a U-shaped trough is a heritable
trait. "Curlers" always have at least one curler parent, but "noncurlers" may occur in
families where one or both parents are curlers. Using C and c to symbolize this trait,
what is the genotype of a noncurler?
7. Albinism, the total lack of pigment, is due to a recessive gene. A man and woman
plan to marry and wish to know the probability of their having any albino children.
What are the probabilities if:
a. both are normally pigmented, but each has one albino parent.
b. the man is an albino, the girl is normal, but her father is an albino.
c. the man is an albino and the girl's family includes no albinos for at least three
generations.
8. In a certain plant, both purple x purple and purple x blue yield purple and blue
colored progeny, but blue x blue gives rise only to blue.
a. What does this tell you about the genotypes of blue- and purple-flowered
plants?
b. Which gene is dominant?
9. Two short-haired female cats are mated to the same long-haired male. Several
litters are produced. Female No. 1 produced eight short-haired and six long-haired
kittens. Female No. 2 produced 24 short-haired ones and no long-haired. From these
observations, what deductions can be made concerning hair-length inheritance in
these animals? Assuming the allelic pair S and s, give the likely genotypes of the
two female cats and the male.
10. In human beings, a downward pointed frontal hairline ("widow's peak") is a
heritable trait. A person with a widow's peak always has at least one parent who also
has this trait, whereas persons with a straight frontal hairline may occur in families
in which one or even both parents have widow's peak. When both parents have a
straight frontal hairline, all children also have a straight hairline. Using W and w to
symbolize genes for this trait, what is the genotype of an individual without widow's
peak?
11. Rh negative children (those not producing rhesus antigen D) may be born to
either Rh positive or Rh negative parents, but Rh positive children always have at
least one Rh positive parent. Which phenotype is due to a dominant gene?
Level 2:
1. In the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster, vestigial wings and hairy body are
produced by two recessive genes located on different chromosomes. The normal
alleles, long wings and hairless body, are dominant. Give the genotype and
phenotype of F1 progeny obtained from a cross between a vestigial-winged, hairy
male and a normal, homozygous female. If the F1 from this cross are permitted to
mate randomly among themselves, what phenotypic ratio would be expected in the
F2 generation?
2. In peas, a gene for tall plants (T) is dominant over its allele for short plants (t). The
gene for smooth peas (R) is dominant over its allele for wrinkled peas (r). The genes
are not linked. Calculate both phenotypic and genotypic ratios for the results of each
of the following crosses:
a. TtRr x TtRr b. Ttrr x ttrr c. ttRr x Ttrr
3. In a particular species of flower, tall is dominant to short, and orange petals are
dominant to the recessive white color. Use T and t to symbolize the alleles for height,
and F and f to symbolize the alleles for flower color. A homozygous tall white flower
is crossed with a flower heterozygous for both traits. List the genotypes of the
parents. What are the F1 genotypic and phenotypic ratios?
4. How many phenotypic classes are produced by a dihybrid test-cross where one
parent is heterozygous for both pairs of genes?
5. In hogs, an allele that produces a white belt around the animal's body (B) is
dominant over its allele for a uniformly colored body (b). The dominant allele of
another gene (F) produces a fusion of the two hoofs on each foot. Suppose a
uniformly-colored hog homozygous for fused hoofs is mated with a normal-footed
hog homozygous for the belted character.
a. What are the genotypes of the parents?
b. What are the genotypic and phenotypic ratios of the F1?
c. If the F1 were allowed to interbreed, what are the genotypic and phenotypic
ratios of the F2?
6. In watermelons, the genes for green color and for short length are dominant over
their alleles for striped color and for long length. Suppose a plant with long striped
fruit is crossed with a plant heterozygous for both of these characters. What
phenotypes would this cross produce and in what ratios?
Level 3:
1. The so-called "blue" (really gray) Andalusian variety of chicken is produced by a
cross between the black and white varieties, both of which breed true (i.e., both are
homozygous). What color chickens (and in what proportions) would you expect if
you crossed two blues? a blue and a black?
2. In four o'clock, red color exhibits incomplete dominance over white; when both
exist together, the flowers are pink.
a. In a cross between a red flower and a white one, what is the genotype of the
offspring?
b. What is the genotypic ratio of the F2 generation if two of the F1 from (a) are
crossed?
c. List the genotypes of offspring produced by a cross between the F1 generation
and red parent.
3. It has long been known in the field of human genetics that wavy hair is the
expression of a heterozygous genotype in which the allele for straight hair is paired
with the allele for curly hair. Lucinda Lovelee married Larry Legg. Both of these
charmers have wavy hair. What is the probability that their offspring, the littlest
Legg, will have:
a. wavy hair?
b. curly hair?
c. straight hair?
4. If pale colored horses are crossed with chestnut-colored horses to produce
“palomino”, an intermediate coat color:
a. What type of expression is suggested?
b. A number of mating between palominos produced 19 pale, 21 chestnut, and
44 palominos. Does this evidence support or contradict your answer to (a)? Why?
Level 4:
1. For each of the following pairs of parental genotypes, calculate the phenotypic
ratios for the F1 generation.
a. IAIA x ii b. IAIA x IAIB c. IAIA x IBi
d. IAIA x IAi e. IAi x IAi f. IAi x IAIB g. IAi x ii
2. If Mr. and Mrs. Fecundity, both having blood type B, have 12 children, 3/4 of
whom are type B and 1/4 of whom are O, what are the genotypes of the parents?
3. A family of six includes four children, each of whom has a different blood type: A,
B, AB and O. What are the genotypes of parents for this trait?
4. A man with blood type B, with one parent of blood type O, marries a woman with
blood type AB. What will be the theoretical percentage of their children with blood
type B?
5. Mrs. Smith and Mrs. Doe were roommates at Harris Hospital and both had
daughters at about the same time. After Mrs. Smith took Susie home, she became
convinced that the babies had been switched. Blood tests were performed with the
following results:
Mr. and Mrs. Smith were both type AB;
Mr. and Mrs. Doe were both type A;
Susie Smith was type A and Debbie Doe was type O.
Had a switch occurred?
6. Mortimer has type B blood. His wife Murgatroyd is unsure of her blood type. If
their first child, Magnifica, is type B, their second offspring, Maximum, is AB and
the twins, Maud and Lyn, are A, can you determine the genotypes of Mort and
Murg?
7. In a well-publicized paternity case, the following facts were unearthed; the mother,
a strikingly beautiful, twice-convicted axe murderess, is blood type A, her child,
Lizzie, is type O, and the alleged father, a mild-mannered felon, is type B. Could he
be the father?
Explain. Is there any chance that little Lizzie, the "Bad Seed", will grow up to be a
missionary lady?
Level 5:
1. Red-green color blindness is inherited as a sex-linked recessive. If a color-blind
woman marries a man who has normal vision, what would be the expected
phenotypes of their children with reference to this character?
2. Suppose that gene b is sex-linked, recessive, and embryonic lethal. A man marries
a woman who is heterozygous for this gene. If this couple had many normal children,
what would be the predicted sex ratio of these children?
3. A man and his wife both have normal color vision, but a daughter has red-green
color blindness, a sex-linked recessive trait. The man sues his wife for divorce on
grounds of infidelity. Can genetics provide evidence supporting his case?
4. In the mouse, the dominant sex-linked gene B results in a short, crooked tail. Its
recessive allele b produces a normal tail. If a normal-tailed female is mated with a
benttailed male, what phenotypic ratio should occur in the F1 generation?
5. In cats, a gene for coat color is sex-linked. Cats homozygous for allele A have
yellow coats; those homozygous for allele a have black coats; and heterozygotes
have tortoiseshell coats. What type(s) of offspring would result from a mating of a
black male and a tortoise-shell female? Is it possible to obtain a tortoise-shell male?
6. On the X chromosome of Drosophila there may occur a recessive gene l, which is
lethal in the larval stage. A heterozygous female is crossed to a normal male; what
F1 adult sex phenotypic ratio results?
Level 6:
1. The diagram shows three generations of the pedigree of deafness in a family.
Black circles and squares indicate deaf persons. and indicate a female; and indicate a
male.
Is the condition of deafness in this pedigree inherited as (1) a dominant autosomal
characteristic, (2) a recessive autosomal characteristic, (3) a sex-linked dominant
characteristic, or (4) a sex-linked recessive characteristic?
F1
F2
2. In the following pedigree charts,
= afflicted female
= afflicted male
= normal female
= normal male
Indicate the pattern of inheritance.
A.
P
F1
F2
B.
F1
F2
C.
F1
F2
D.
F1
F2