Chapter 1 Study Questions
- How would the results of the cross in Figure 1.1.5 have been different if heredity worked through blending inheritance rather than particulate inheritance?
- What is the maximum number of alleles at a given autosomal locus in a normal gamete from a diploid individual? In the whole population of a species?
- Wiry hair (W) is dominant to smooth hair (w) in dogs.
- If you cross a homozygous, wiry-haired dog with a smooth-haired dog, what will be the genotype and phenotype of the F1 generation?
- If two dogs from the F1 generation mated, what would be the most likely ratio of hair phenotypes among their progeny?
- When two wiry-haired Ww dogs actually mated, they had a litter of three puppies, which all had smooth hair. How do you explain this observation?
- Someone left a wiry-haired dog on your doorstep. Without extracting DNA, what would be the easiest way to determine the genotype of this dog?
- Based on the information provided in Question 1, can you tell which, if either, of the alleles is wild-type?
- An important part of Mendel’s experiments was the use of homozygous lines as parents for his crosses. How did he know they were homozygous, and why was the use of the lines important?
- Does equal segregation of alleles into daughter cells happen during mitosis, meiosis, or both?
