Bio 174

GENETICS PROBLEMS
Spring 2017

DIRECTIONS

DUE FRIDAY 5/19 AT 11:59 PM

Please download the attached word file containing the genetics assignment. The assignment
MUST BE TYPED AND UPLOADED ONTO BLACKBOARD.

PLEASE FOLLOW THESE GUIDELINES EXACTLY:

1. I WILL NOT GRADE LATE ASSIGNMENTS

2. Show all work, be neat, be complete. To make my life easier, highlight the final numerical
answer in yellow using the highlight feature of your word processing software
3. Type your answers onto the Genetics Assignment Word Document itself UNDERNEATH
EACH QUESTION.
4. Your answers should be typed in BOLD DARK BLUE FONT
5. If your answer requires a drawing or graphic that cannot be typed easily, you should draw
it on a piece of paper, take a good quality picture of it, email the picture to yourself and
then download the picture onto the word document IN THE RIGHT SPOT.
6. Save your document as a PDF file and then upload it onto Blackboard by the due date.
NAME YOUR UPLOADED FILE USING THE FOLLOWING NAMING FORMAT:
yourfirstnameyourlastname-genetics
For example, if I were a student turning in an assignment then this is how I would name
my file: adelrajab-genetics

QUESTIONS

1. A man and woman are not albinos (both have normal pigmentation). Their first child was
born with albinism. Albinism is an autosomal (not sex-linked) recessive trait. What is the
probability that their second child will be an albino?

or 0.25, 25% chance that the second child will be an albino.

2. In tigers, a recessive allele causes a white tiger (absence of fur pigmentation). If one
phenotypically normal tiger that is heterozygous is mated to another that is phenotypically
white, what percentage of their offspring is expected to be white?

or 0.5, 50% chance that the offspring is expected to be white.

3. A man has extra digits (six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot). His wife and
their daughter have a normal number of digits. Having extra digits is an autosomal
dominant trait. What is the probability that their next child will have normal (5) digits?
 or 0.5, 50% chance that the child will have normal (5) digits.

4. Different ratios (both phenotypic and genotypic) occur in crosses with single gene pairs or
two gene pairs. List all the types of ratios (phenotypic and genotypic) that are likely to
occur in crosses dealing with a single gene pair? Your answer should be in the form of a
neat table.

5. Phenylketonuria (PKU) is an inherited disease caused by a recessive autosomal allele. If a

woman and her husband are both carriers of the PKU allele, what is the probability that
their first child will be a girl that has PKU?

1/8 or 0.125, 12.5% chance that their first child will be a girl that has PKU.
6. Assuming independent assortment for all gene pairs, what is the probability that the
following parents, AABbCc AaBBCc, will produce an AaBbCc offspring?

1/8, or 0.125, 12.5%

7. Suppose two AaBbcc individuals are mated. Assuming that the genes are not linked, what
fraction of the offspring are expected to be homozygous recessive for the three traits?

1/16

8. Curled hair is caused by a dominant autosomal gene in humans. If a heterozygous curly-

haired person marries a person with straight hair, list all possible offspring phenotypes and
their proportions.

Aa, Aa, aa, aa, Aa, aa

9. Short hair (S) in rabbits is dominant to long hair (s). The following crosses are carried out,
producing the progeny shown. Give all possible genotypes of parents in each cross.
Parents Offspring
a. Short x short 4 short and 2 long
b. Short x short 8 short
c. Short x long 12 short
d. Short x long 3 short and 1 long

a) Ss x Ss
b) SS x Ss, SS x SS
c) SS x ss
d) Ss x ss

10.In cats, black coat is dominant over gray. A female black cat whose mother was gray and
whose father was black mates with a gray male. If this female has a litter of 7 kittens,
what is the probability that three will be black and 4 will be gray? (hint: binomial
expansion problem)

27.34%
11.The following genotypes are crossed: AaBbCcDd X AaBbCcDd. Give the proportion of the
progeny of this cross having each of the following genotypes
a. Aabbccdd
b. AaBbCcDd
c. aabbccdd
d. AaBbccDd

a) 1/128
b) 1/16
c) 1/256
d) 1/128

12.In corn, purple kernels are dominant over yellow and full kernels are dominant over
shrunken. A corn plant with purple full kernels is mated with one having yellow shrunken
kernels. The following offspring are obtained:
Purple, full 112
Purple shrunken 103
Yellow full 91
Yellow shrunken 94
What are the most likely genotypes of the parents and progeny?
PpFf x ppff ratio is approximately 1:1:1:1, if independent assortment predicts
this ratio.

13.Mark has a white cat named Einy. When Mark crosses Einy with a black cat, he obtains
white kittens and black kittens. When the black kittens are interbred, all the kittens that
they produce are white. On the basis of these results, which fur color (black or white) in
cats is recessive? Explain your answer.

The black fur color is recessive, it is highly unlikely that the black fur color is
dominant because during the 1st generation when the black kittens interbred it
should yield some black colored cats in the 2 nd generation. Like-wise white
colored fur should be dominant as it showed up in 100% of the 2 nd generation.

14.The pedigree shows the pattern of inheritance for a rare human disease. Filled symbols indicate
individuals with the disease; open symbols indicate normal individuals.
 a. What is the most probable mode of inheritance (dominant or recessive) for this trait?

b. What is the most convincing evidence you can give for your answer to (a)?

c. What are the most probable genotypes of individuals II-1 and II-5?

d. If individuals II-1 and II-2 have another child, what is the probability that it will be a
normal female?

A) Recessive

B) In the second generation only 1 of the 8 offspring was afflicted.

C) II-1: homozygous recessive, II-2 homozygous dominant or heterozygous.

15.In sheep, lustrous fleece results from an allele (L) that is dominant over in allele (l) for
normal fleece. A ewe with lustrous fleece is mated with a ram with normal fleece. The ewe
then gives birth to a single lamb with normal fleece. From this single offspring, is it
possible to determine the genotypes of the two parents? If so, what are their genotypes? If
not, why not?

It is possible to determine the genotype of the two parents, the lustrous fleece
ewe is heterozygous and the normal fleece ewe is homozygous recessive.

16.In humans, alkaptonuria is a genetic metabolic disorder that results in black urine.
Alkaptonuria results from an allele (a) that is autosomal and is recessive to the allele for
normal metabolism (A). Sally has normal metabolism but her brother has alkaptonuria.
Sallys father has alkaptonuria and her mother has normal metabolism.
a. Give the genotypes of Sally, her mother, her father, and her brother.
b. If Sallys parents have another child, what is the probability that this child will be a
normal male child?
c. If Sally marries a man (Frank) who has normal metabolism but whose grandmother
(on his fathers side) had alkaptonuria, but no one else in Franks family did,
nor was his mother a carrier, what is the probability that their first child will be
normal?
d. Draw the entire pedigree of all individuals listed above: Sallys family and Franks
side including both sets of Franks grandparents and his parents and his brother.

a) Sally is heterozygous, her mother is heterozygous, her father

is homozygous recessive, and her brother is homozygous
recessive
 b) or 50%
c) 7/8 or 87.5%
d)

17.In snapdragons, red flower color (R) is incompletely dominant over white flower color (r)
the heterozygotes produce pink flowers. A red snapdragon is crossed with a white
snapdragon, and the F1 are intercrossed to produce the F2.
a. Give the genotypes and phenotypes of the F1 and F2 along with their expected
proportions. [USE THE PROPER SYMBOL SYSTEM FOR INCOMPLETE
DOMINANCE]
1/2CRCr pink, 1/4CRCR red, CrCr white 2:1:1
b. If the F1 are backcrossed to the white parent, what will the genotypes and
phenotypes of the offspring be?
CrCr white, and CRCr pink
c. If the F1 are backcrossed to the red parent, what are the genotypes and phenotypes
of the offspring?
CRCR red, CRCr pink
d. Explain how incomplete dominance produces heterozygous individuals that have a
phenotype that is hybrid between the two homozygous genotypes.
Incomplete dominance produces heterozygous individuals that have
phenotypes that are hybrids of the two homozygous genotypes because
neither the dominant nor the recessive trait is dominant over the other
and they are not codominant as white and red are no shown in the next
generation, instead there is a mixture or blending of the phenotypes.

18.How many different kinds of gametes could the following individuals produce? [Hint:
Remember the formula 2n where n equals the number of heterozygotes.]
a. aaBB
b. CCDdEe
c. AaBbCcDD
d. MmNnOoPpQq
a) 1
b) 4
c) 8
d) 32
19.What is the probability of rolling ONE six-sided dice and obtaining the following numbers?
a. 3
b. 2 or 4
c. Any even number
d. Any number but 6
a) 1/6
b) 1/3
c)
d) 5/6

20.What is the probability of rolling TWO six-sided dice and obtaining the following numbers?
a. 2 and 3
b. 1 and 1
c. At least one 6
d. A 6 or a 5
a) 1/36
b) 1/36
c) 11/36
d) 1/18

21.In a family of seven children, what is the probability of obtaining the following numbers?
a. Three boys is a row followed by four girls
b. All children of the same sex
c. Six girls and one boy (hint: binomial expansion problem. MUST BE ANSWERED WITH
THE BINOMIAL EXPANSION-SHOW ALL WORK)
d. Four boys and three girls (hint: binomial expansion problem. MUST BE ANSWERED
WITH THE BINOMIAL EXPANSION-SHOW ALL WORK)
a)18.75%
b) 1.56%
c) 5.46%
d) 27.34%
22.A woman with blood type AB marries a man with blood type O.
a. Given only this information, determine ALL the blood types that are possible for
their children?
Blood type A and Blood type B are all likely possible blood types for
children.
b. Which blood types are NOT possible in the children?
Blood type AB and Blood type O are much rarer for these children.
c. Would the answers to (a) or (b) change if it was known that both of the woman's
parents had blood type AB? Explain.

The answer to a and b would not change if it was known that both of the
womans parents had blood type AB.