Name:

________________________________________________________ Date:_________________________ HR:_______

Complex Inheritance Problems

1. A plant that produces white flowers is crossed with a plant that produces purple flowers.
Describe the phenotype of the offspring if the inheritance pattern for flower color is:
a. incomplete dominance

b. codominance

2. A cross between a purebred animal with red hairs and a purebred animal with white hairs
produces an animal that has both red hairs and white hairs. What type of inheritance
pattern is involved?


3. In a cross between individuals of a species of tropical fish, all of the male offspring have long
tail fins, and none of the females possess the trait. Mating two of the resulting offspring fails to
produce females with the trait. What type of inheritance pattern is involved?


4. An ecologist observes that a population of plants in a meadow has flowers that may be red,
yellow, white, pink, or purple. What type of inheritance pattern is involved?


5. A woman with type AB blood is married to a man with type O blood. She has a child with type
A blood. In a divorce suit, the man claims the child cannot be his biological child because
neither he nor the woman has type A blood. Based solely on the information stated here, does
the science of genetics support the mans claims? Draw the Punnet square to support
your answer.

6. A couple just brought home their new baby from the hospital. They begin to suspect that the
hospital switched babies, and the baby they brought home is not theirs. They check the
hospital records, and find that the mans blood type is B, the womans blood type is AB, and
the babys blood type is O. Explain why the parents are or are not justified in their
concern about this baby. Draw the Punnet square to support your answer.


7. Inheritance of the palomino coat color (golden) in horses is a result of incomplete dominance.
White horse is DD, a chestnut (dark brown) horse is dd, and a palomino horse is Dd. What is
the expected ratio of coat colors in the offspring of two palomino horses? Use a Punnett
square to determine your answer.

8. In a species of dogs, coat color is determined by the interaction between four alleles. The
order of dominance is C > Ct > Cs > c A homozygous tan colored dog mates with a dark brown
colored dog. The breeders know the dark brown colored dog had a white colored mother.
What is the expected ratio of coat colors in the offspring? Use a Punnett square to
determine your answer.

Phenotype Genotypes
Dark brown CC, CC , CC , Cc
t s

Tan CtCt, CtCs, Ctc

Spotted C C , C c
s s s

White cc




9. Hemophilia is a bleeding disorder caused by a recessive gene on the X chromosome. If a
woman who is heterozygous (XHXh) for the trait marries a man who is not a hemophiliac
(XHY), compare the chances of their sons having hemophilia to the chances of their
daughters having hemophilia. Use a Punnett square to determine your answer.

10. If the same woman from above (XHXh) had married a hemophiliac (XhY) instead, compare the
chances of their sons having hemophilia to the chances of their daughters having
hemophilia. Show your work using a Punnett square.