Lab #4 – Mendelian Inheritance Simulation /20

Learning Outcomes:

 Understanding how traits are passed on from parents to their offspring and what causes
variation between siblings.

 Learning about Mendel's Laws of Inheritance in color deficiency.

 Understanding and predicting the phenotypes of offspring with given genotypes using
genetic crosses.

 Learning about dominant and recessive alleles, and how they play a part in an individual's
biological make-up.

1. What two colours are often hard to distinguish in people who are colour blind? (1 mark)
People who are colour blind have a hard time distinguishing the difference between red
and green.

2. What percentage of genetic information is passed on to offspring from parents? (1

mark)

☐ 100% from the mother

☐ 100% from the father
☐ 25% from the father, 25% from the mother and 50% from offspring
☐ 50% from mother and 50% from father

3. Zygotes are haploid cells which carry genetic information from a parent to their
offspring (1 mark)

☐ True
☐ False

4. Hybridization is the mating of two individuals from different breeds which are
genetically distinct. (1 mark)

☐ True
 ☐ False

5. Using a separate piece of paper, complete Punnett square for the cross of a pure black
mouse (aa) with a pure brown mouse (AA). What would you predict the genotypes of
the offspring would be? (1 mark)

☐ 25% AA, 50% Aa, 25% aa

☐ 50% AA, 50% aa
☐ 50% AA, 50% Aa
☐ 100% Aa

6. How many of the mice in the Punnett square from question #5 would have black fur? (1
mark)

☐0%
☐ 25%
☐ 50%
☐ 100%

7. Match the terms below to their correct definition (2 marks)

a. Law of Independent Assortment

b. Law of Segregation
c. Crossing Over
d. Meiosis
___B__ Each offspring receives one allele from each parent
__D___ Process of formation of gametes at the chromosomal level
___A__ Genes do not influence each other with regards to sorting into gametes
__C___ Genes located on the same chromosomes are swapped

8. Eye colour affects the rate of colour blindness. (1 mark)

☐ True
☐ False

9. The gene for colour blindness is located on which chromosome? (1 mark)

 The gene for colour blindness is found in the X chromosome.

10. In your own words, describe the term ‘carrier female’? (1mark)
The term carrier female is a woman who possess the recessive gene for something (ex.
Colour blindness), but does not physically have the trait herself. However, she is able to
pass it on to her offspring.

11. Describe the evidence that shows that colour blindness is a recessive trait. (1 mark)
The evidence that shows that colour blindness is a recessive trait is in the female gene.
If the female gene does not poses two genes with colour blindness she will not inherit it.
Therefore, the gene is recessive.
12. In the simulation, Joseph couldn’t distinguish between the red and the green ice-cream.
What was Joseph’s genotype? (1 mark)

☐ Xc Xc
☐ XC Y
☐ XN XC
☐ XN Y

13. Imagine that Joseph marries a woman named Shelley who is a carrier of the colour blind
gene. Complete the Punnett Square to predict if their children would be colour blind (4
marks).
Joseph’s Alleles

Shel Xc Y
ley’s
Allel Xc
es XcXc XcY

Xn XnY
XcXn

14. Using your results of the Punnet Square above, what percentage of Joseph and Shelley’s
female children would be colour blind? (1 mark)
☐0%
☐ 25%
☐ 50%
☐ 100%
15. Colour blindness is more commonly observed in males. Why is this? (1 mark)
Colour blindness is more common in men because, they only need to have one copy of
the gene to become colour blind. A woman, however, must have both copies of the
gene.

16. Can you name another trait that has the same inheritance pattern as colour blindness?
Hint: use your textbook for more information. (1 mark)
Another trait that has the same inheritance pattern as colour blindness is haemophilia,
which is a blood disorder where blood does not form clots that are necessary to stop
the body from bleeding after injury.