PROBLEM SET IN GENETICS

1. In humans, brown eyes (B) are dominant over blue (b)*. A brown-eyed man marries
a blue-eyed woman and they have three children, two of whom are brown-eyed and
one of whom is blue-eyed.
a. Draw the Punnett square that illustrates this marriage. What is the man’s
genotype? What are the genotypes and phenotypes of the children?
b. If blue is recessive, what must the woman’s genotype be?
c. If that’s her genotype, what kind(s) of gametes (eggs) can she produce?
d. If the man has brown eyes, but has a blue-eyed child what must his genotype
be?
e. If that’s his genotype, what kind(s) of gametes (sperm) can he produce?

2. In dogs, there is an hereditary deafness caused by a recessive gene, “d.” A kennel

owner has a male dog that she wants to use for breeding purposes if possible. The
dog can hear, so the owner knows his genotype is either DD or Dd. If the dog’s
genotype is Dd, the owner does not wish to use him for breeding so that the
deafness gene will not be passed on. This can be tested by breeding the dog to a
deaf female (dd).
a. Draw the Punnett squares to illustrate these two possible crosses. In each
case, what percentage/how many of the offspring would be expected to be
hearing? deaf? How could you tell the genotype of this male dog?
b. Also, using Punnett square(s), show how two hearing dogs could produce
deaf offspring.
c. A deaf female is genotype dd. What kind(s) of gametes (eggs) can she
produce?
d. If the hearing male is DD, what kind(s) of gametes (sperm) can he produce?

3. A brown mink crossed with a silverblue mink produced all brown offspring. When
these F1 mink were crossed among themselves they produced 47 brown animals
and 15 silverblue animals (F2 generation). Determine all the genotypes and
phenotypes, and their relative ratios, in the F1 and F2 generations.

4. In sheep white is due to a dominant gene (W), black to its recessive allele (w). A
white ewe mated to a white ram produces a black lamb. If they produce another
offspring, could it be white? If so, what are the chances of it being white? List the
genotypes of all animals mentioned in this problem.

5. In tomatoes the texture of the skin may be smooth or peach (hairy). The Ponderosa
variety has fruits with smooth texture. The red peach variety has fruits with peach
texture. Crosses between the two varieties produce all smooth fruits. Crosses
 between these smooth fruited F1 plants produced 174 peach textured fruits and 520
smooth textured fruits. How are these skin textures inherited?

6. A brown mouse is mated is mated with two female black mice. When each female
has produced several litters of young, the first female has had 48 black and the
second female has had 14 black and 11 brown young. Deduce the pattern of
inheritance of coat color and the genotypes of all of the parents.

7. In turkeys a dominant gene R produces the familiar bronze color; its recessive allele
r results in red. Another dominant gene H results in normal feathers; its recessive
allele h produces feathers without webbing, so that they resemble tufts of hair. Two
bronze turkeys with normal feathers were mated, and their offspring consisted of 8
bronze with normal feathers, three bronze with hairy feathers, two red with normal
feathers, and one red with hairy feathers. What were the genotypes of the parents?

8. In horses black is dependent upon a dominant gene, B, and chestnut upon its
recessive allele, b. The trotting gait is due to a dominant allele T, and the pacing gait
to its recessive allele, t. If a homozygous black pacer is mated to a homozygous
chestnut trotter, what will be the appearance of the F1 generation?

9. Referring to the previous question (Question 8), what would be the genotypes and
phenotypes (and their expected ratios or percentages) of the offspring produced by
a mating between an F1 generation individual and a chestnut pacer?

10. Assume right-handedness (R) dominates over left-handedness (r) in humans, and
that brown eyes (B) are dominant over blue (b). A right-handed, blue-eyed man
marries a right-handed, brown-eyed woman. One of their two children is right-
handed/blue-eyed, while the other is left-handed/brown-eyed. The man marries
again, and this time the woman is right-handed and brown-eyed. They have 10
children, all right-handed and brown-eyed. What are the genotypes of the husband
and two wives?

11. Yellow guinea pigs crossed with white ones always produce cream colored offspring.
Two cream colored guinea pigs when crossed produced yellow, cream and white
offspring in the ratio of l yellow: 2 cream: l white. How are these colors inherited?
12. In humans the blood groups are produced by various combinations of three
alleles IA, IB, and i. Blood type A is caused by either IA IA or IA i; type B by IB IB or IB i;
type AB by IA IB; and type O by i i. Suppose a child is of blood type A and the mother
is of type 0. What type or types may the father belong to?

13. A woman with normal vision marries a man with normal vision. The woman’s father
is colorblind. The allele for colorblindness is recessive and X-linked. What proportion
of her sons will be colorblind? What proportion of her daughters will be colorblind?

14. A drug, phenyl thiocarbamide (PTC), can be tasted by about 70% of American
people; others cannot taste it at all. Those who can taste it are called tasters. Those
who cannot taste PTC are said to be taste-blind. Tasters have a dominant allele for
the trait, whereas those who cannot taste the drug have two recessive alleles.

Another trait, albinism, is inherited as a simple recessive, the normal pigmented

condition being dominant. An albino man who is a taster and has a taste-blind
mother, marries a normally pigmented taste-blind woman whose father is an albino
taster.
(a) What is the genotype of the man?
(b) What is the genotype of his wife?
(c) What types of children might this couple expect?

Compiled by: Mrs. Rita B. Daliwag, MST Bio