BIOL10003 Practice exam session

Section C Question2
The leaves of pineapples can be classified into three types: spiny, spiny tip and non-
spiny. In crosses between pure-breeding strains followed by interbreeding of the F1,
the following results appeared:
Cross F1 F2
1 spiny tip x spiny tip 99 spiny tip: 34 spiny
spiny
2 non-spiny x non-spiny 125 non-spiny: 39 spiny tip
spiny tip
3 non-spiny x non-spiny 94 non-spiny: 25 spiny tip: 9 spiny
spiny
a. Explain these results in regard to the genotypes produced and their ratios.
b. Test your hypothesis statistically
_____________________________________________________________________
3:1 ratio in both crosses 1 and 2, indicating single-genes.

Cross 1:
Parents spiny tip x spiny
BB x bb
F1 all spiny tip so spiny tip dominant to spiny –>
B = spiny tip, b = spiny ½ mark
F1 x F1 Bb x Bb

F2 3 spiny tip : 1 spiny

3 B- : 1 bb

Cross 2:
Parents non-spiny x spiny tip
AA x aa
F1 all non-spiny so non-spiny dominant to spiny tip->
A = non-spiny, a = spiny tip
F1 x F1 Aa x Aa ½ mark
F2 3 non-spiny :1 spiny tip
3 A- : 1 aa
Cross 3:

Parents non-spiny x spiny

AA;BB X aa;bb ½ mark each genotype matching phenotype = 1

F1 all non-spiny
Aa;Bb ½ mark genotype

F2 In the 128 progeny – 1/16 of 128 = 8, so approximates

12 non-spiny :3 spiny tip :1 spiny

½ mark ratio
12A-;-- : 3 aa;B- : 1 aa;bb
½ mark each genotype matching phenotype = 1½

There are 2 genes with 2 alleles at each. ½ mark

They are both autosomal.
The gene loci assort independently. ½ mark
The alleles are A/a and B/b, where phenotype A is dominant to a and phenotype B is
dominant to b.
There is dominant epistasis - genotype A- masks the genotype at the B/b locus (Non-
spiny masks spiny/spiny tip).
non spiny = A-;--
1 mark – ½ mark for dominant epistasis,
½ mark for describing the epistasis
spiny tip = aa;B-
spiny = aa;bb

χ2 analysis
H0= There is no difference between the observed and the expected other than that
due to chance
½ mark
non-spiny spiny tip spiny
Obs 94 25 9 128
Exp 96 24 8 128
(𝑂 − 𝐸 )& (94 − 96)& (25 − 24)& (9 − 8)&
𝐸 96 24 8
½ mark expected values
χ2 = 0.04 + 0.04+ 0.13 = 0.21 1 mark

Degrees of freedom = 3-1 = 2 ½ mark

p=0.90
½ mark
Therefore we do not reject the null hypothesis, and accept the genetic hypothesis
that gave rise to the expected 12:3:1 ratio.
1 mark