Chapter 18: Inheritance

Worksheet 1
1. In human beings, the curly hair trait is dominant over the straight hair trait. A heterozygous curly
man marries a straight haired woman. What are the possible genotypes and phenotypes of their
offspring?
2. The diagram shows a monohybrid cross between two mango trees, M and N. 50% of the
offspring produce sweet fruit while the other 50% produce sour fruit. (In mango trees, sweet
fruit are dominant over sour fruit).
tree M

tree P (sweet fruit)

tree N

tree Q (sour fruit)

If mango tree P crossed with mango tree Q, what percentage of the trees will produce sour
fruit?

3. In the colour of rabbits fur, the allele B represents black while white (allele b) is
recessive. If two heterozygous rabbits are crossed, what percentage of the offspring will
have white fur?
4. In humans, a free ear lobe is dominant over attached ear lobes. If a man with
homozygous free ear lobes marries a woman with attached ear lobes, what is the
percentage of their children who have free ear lobes?
5. In fruit flies, normal wings (L) is dominant over short wings (l). What is the phenotypic
ratio of the offspring if the genotypes of the parents are Ll x ll.

6. Based on Mendels first law, draw a schematic diagram to show inheritance of the ABO
blood groups and the genotypes of the offspring if
a. The fathers blood group is homozygous A and mothers blood group is
homozygous B.
b. The fathers blood group is O and the mothers blood group is AB.

7. Haemophilia is the condition in which blood cannot clot normally. (They lack the protein
for blood clotting).
Female
Male
H H
Dominant homozygous
X X
XH Y
normal
normal
h h
Recessive homozygous
XX
XhY
haemophiliac
haemophiliac
Heterozygous
XH Xh
carrier
Draw a genetic diagram for blood clotting when female carrier marries a normal male.
8. Colour blindness is a condition in which a person cannot distinguish certain colours. The
most common form of colour blindness is red green colour blindness.
Female
Male
B B
Dominant homozygous
XX
XBY
normal
normal
b b
Recessive homozygous
XX
XbY
Colour blind
Colour blind
B b
Heterozygous
XX
carrier
Draw the genetic diagrams for; write down the genotype and phenotype ratio.
a) A man with normal vision marries a woman with normal vision. (The woman carries
the blindness allele).
b) A colour blind man marries a homozygous normal vision woman.
c) A man with normal vision marries a colour blind woman.
9. A student cross bred two normal winged fruit flies. He obtained 520 fruit flies , of which
130 have vestigial wings and remainder has normal wings. Normal wings are dominant
over vestigial wings. W represent normal wing and w represent vestigial wing. What are
the genotypes of parent fruit flies.
10. A plant can produce red and white flowers. A pure breeding plant with red flowers and
pure breeding plant with white flowers are cross pollinated to produce the first filial
generation (F1). All F1 plants produce red flowers. Then the F1 plants are allowed to slef
pollinate to produce the second filial generations (F2).
a. What is meant by cross pollination?
b. Which colour is dominant, explain why?
c. Draw a genetic diagram to show these two crosses.
d. If the allele controlling the colours of flower were codominant, what would the
phenotype of the offspring from a cross between pure breeding plants with red
flower and white flower. Explain.