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Genetics Lab Practice Exercises

This document provides examples and practice problems for several genetics concepts: 1) Incomplete dominance in mouse coat color results in cream-colored heterozygotes and Punnett squares can predict offspring phenotypes. 2) Co-dominance in chicken feather color results in black, white, or erminette (black and white spotted) phenotypes depending on allele combinations. 3) Multiple alleles and Punnett squares can help determine parentage using blood type examples.

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21 views

Genetics Lab Practice Exercises

This document provides examples and practice problems for several genetics concepts: 1) Incomplete dominance in mouse coat color results in cream-colored heterozygotes and Punnett squares can predict offspring phenotypes. 2) Co-dominance in chicken feather color results in black, white, or erminette (black and white spotted) phenotypes depending on allele combinations. 3) Multiple alleles and Punnett squares can help determine parentage using blood type examples.

Uploaded by

amberflores.ugc
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Genetics Lab Practice

Exercises
Incomplete Dominance
Coat color in mice is incompletely dominant. Yellow (Y) and white
(W) -colored mice are homozygous, while cream-colored mice are
heterozygous (YW). If two cream-colored mice mate, what
percentage of each phenotype can we expect of their offspring?
Show the Punnett Square.
Co-dominance
In some chickens, the gene for feather color is controlled by
codominance. The allele for black is B and the allele for white is W.
The heterozygous phenotype is known as erminette (black and
white spotted).
1. What is the genotype for black chickens? ____
2. What is the genotype for white chickens? ____
3. What is the genotype for erminette chickens? ____
Multiple Alleles
Suppose a newborn baby was accidentally mixed up in the hospital.
In an effort to determine the parents of the baby, the blood types of
the baby and two sets of parents were determined. Baby 1 had type
O Mrs. Brown had type B Mr. Brown had type AB. Mrs. Smith had
type B Mr. Smith had type B
1. Draw Punnett squares for each couple (you may need to do
more than 1 square/ couple)
2. To which parents does baby #1 belong? Why? Hint you may
want to refer to your Punnett squares.
Dominant Lethal Allele
Huntington’s disease is a dominant trait (not having Huntington’s is
recessive) that unfortunately does not show any obvious symptoms
until a person reaches age 40-50. Most people have children by
then and pass on their genes before they know they have a genetic
disorder.

A father is a heterozygous for Huntington’s and the mother does not


have Huntington’s. What are the odds that their children might
inherit the disorder?
Recessive Lethal Allele
Cystic fibrosis is another human genetic disorder caused by one
gene. Not having cystic fibrosis is dominant, and cystic fibrosis is
recessive.

You are a genetic counselor advising 2 parents who are both


heterozygous and do not have cystic fibrosis.

What are the odds that they could have a child with the condition?
Epistasis
• Epistasis involves two or more pairs of genes which are not
alleles. One pair of genes, when having a dominant gene in that
pair, will actually mask the other pair of genes.
• For instance, a horse's coat color is controlled by many different
gene pairs. A dominant B will give the horse a black color, and a b
will give the horse a chestnut color. However, when a dominant
Wis present in the second gene pair, the horse will be white no
matter what. If the second gene pair is ww, then the horse will be
the color of whatever the first gene pair is made of.
Epistasis
For example, the genotypes and phenotypes for horses are given for
you to look at.
• BBww = Black
• Bbww = Black
• bbww = Chestnut
• BBWw = White
• BbWw = White
• bbWw = White
Sample Problems:
1. If a heterozygous white (BbWw) mare is crossed with a heterozygous
white (BbWw) stallion, what could the offspring's phenotype and
genotype be?
2. Horses can also be bay in color. This dominant gene allele (A) masks
the dominant black color, but not the white gene or the recessive
chestnut color. What is the phenotype and genotype of the offspring
when a bay mare (AaBBww) is crossed with a bay stallion (AaBbww)?
3. Horses also carry a dilution gene (D). If only one allele is the
dominant D, and a dominant A allele and the recessive chestnut
color genes are present, then the horse will be a palamino. If there
are two dominant dilution alleles (DD) and all else is the same as
previously mentioned, the horse will be a pseudo albino. What is the
phenotype and genotype of the offspring when a palomino mare
(AAbbDdww) is crossed with a palomino stallion (AabbDdww)?
Sex-linked Inheritance
• Sex linked inheritance is traits carried in either the X or the Y
chromosome.
• A trait that is due to genes present on the X chromosome is more likely
to be expressed in males as they have only one X chromosome.
• The presence of two X chromosomes in females can suppress its
expression when one of them has the genes for the trait and the other
does not.
• X linked traits fall under many categories like recessive, dominant and
codominant which influence their expression in members of both the
sexes.
• A trait due to a gene in the Y chromosome will only show in males and
not in females.
Examples:
• Red Green Colour blindness
• Hemophilia
• Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy
• Hairy Ears (Y chromosome)
Sample: Sex-linked Inheritance
Remember: When writing genotypes, you need to write both the
alleles and the sex chromosomes – i.e. XNXN

In humans, the allele for normal blood clotting, H, is dominant to


the allele for hemophilia, h. This is a sex-linked trait found on the X
chromosome. A woman with normal blood clotting has four
children: a normal son, a hemophiliac son, and two normal
daughters. The father has normal blood clotting. What is the
genotype for each member of the family?
Sex-limited Inheritance
• Sex-limited genes are genes which are present in both.
• These are genes that occur in both sexes (probably on the
autosomes) but are normally expressed only in the gender having
the appropriate hormonal determiner (activator).
• Throughout the pedigree the trait appears in only one sex, but it
need NOT occur in all member of that sex.
• The genes for the trait can be carried and transmitted by the
opposite sex although it is NOT displayed in that sex because of
anatomical or physiological differences.
Examples:
• The genes that control milk yield and quality in dairy cattle, for
example, are present in both bulls and cows, but their effects are
expressed only in the female cattle.
• Beard in males
• Barred coloring in chickens normally is visible only in the roosters.
• Secondary hormonal development
Sample Problems:
1. If a white female hen (XY) is crossed with a homozygous barred
rooster (XX), what is the phenotype of each genotype for each
sex? (B is dominant (barred))

2. If the male is heterozygous and the female is barred, what would


their offspring be like?
Sex-influenced Traits
• Sex-controlled character, also called Sex-influenced Character, a
genetically controlled feature that may appear in organisms of
both sexes but is expressed to a different degree in each.
• Sex-influenced traits are autosomal traits that are influenced by
sex.
• The character seems to act as a dominant in one sex and a
recessive in the other. Sex-controlled character, also called Sex-
influenced Character, a genetically controlled feature that may
appear in organisms of both sexes but is expressed to a different
degree in each.
• The character seems to act as a dominant in one sex and a
recessive in the other.
Examples:
• Male Pattern Baldness
• Length of index finger
• Body hair
• Muscle mass
Sample Problems:
1. What is the probability of getting a bald female from a bald man
and a heterozygous normal female? (Baldness is recessive)
2. If a man becomes bald and his father is not bald, what are the
possible genotype(s) of the mother?
3. If a woman's parents are not bald, she is not bald, and her
husband and older daughter are both homzygous bald, then
what is the genotype of both the woman and her parents? What
is the probability that the woman and her husband would have
the bald daughter?

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