Complex Inheritance Pattern Practice

1. A cross between a purebred animal with red hair and a purebred animal with white hair
produces an animal that has both red hair and white hair. What type of inheritance
pattern is involved? Draw the Punnett square. ​The type of inheritance is Codominance.

RW RW

RW RW

2. A woman with type AB blood is married to a man with type O blood. She has a child with
type A blood. In a divorce suit, the man claims that the child cannot be his biological
child because neither he nor the woman has type A blood. Based solely on the
information stated here, does the science of genetics support the man’s claims? Draw
the Punnett square to support your answer. ​No, the science of genetics doesn’t support
the man’s claims, because the combination of alleles between her type and the man’s
type can produce type A blood. As seen in the punnett square below,

I​A​i I​B​i

I​A​i I​B​i

there is a 50% chance of the child having either type A or type B blood. So, it is likely
that he is the father of the child.

3. A red-flowered sweet pea plant is crossed with a white-flowered sweet pea plant. All of
the offspring are pink. What is the inheritance pattern being expressed? Draw the
Punnett square. ​The type of inheritance pattern is Incomplete Dominance.

F​R​F​W F​R​F​W

F​R​F​W F​R​F​W

4. An ecologist observes that a population of plants in a meadow has flowers that may be
red, yellow, white, pink, or purple. Hypothesize what the inheritance pattern might be.
This inheritance pattern could by Polygenes. This is because of the wide variety of
phenotypes this particular trait can express. It is possible that multiple alleles can be
assigned and, depending on the combination, could result in the different colors
described.
 5. Suppose you mate a black rooster with a white hen. The feathers of all the offspring are
“blue,” a color that is intermediate between black and white. Identify the inheritance
pattern in these chickens.​ The inheritance pattern is Incomplete Dominance because it is
the inheritance pattern that creates intermediate phenotypes with heterozygous alleles.

6. Julia purchased a puppy from a breeder. The breeder explained that the puppy should
never be bred with another dog because it was a carrier. What did the breeder mean by
this statement? ​The breeder meant that it carried a recessive trait that was unfavorable
and that could be passed on to its offspring if both it and it’s mate carried the trait.

7. Inheritance of the palomino coat color in horses is a result of incomplete dominance.

White horse is DD, a chestnut horse is dd, and a palomino horse is Dd. What is the
expected ratio of coat colors in the offspring to two palomino horses? Draw the Punnett
square.

DD Dd

Dd dd
White : Chestnut : Palomino

1: 2 : 1

These involve a pattern we haven’t covered yet called sex linkage. Do some research on sex
linkage, complete these and show your work for extra credit.

8. In a cross between individuals of a species of tropical fish, all of the male offspring have
long tail fins, and none of the females possess the trait. Mating two of the resulting
offspring fails to produce females with the trait. Draw the Punnett square for this.

XX XY​L

XX XY​L

9. In cats, the allele for fur color is sex linked. The allele for black fur is X​C​, and the allele
for orange fur is X​c​. From this information, explain why calico cats, X​C​X​c​, are always
female. ​Calico cats are always female because the gene for fur color is assigned to the x
chromosome. Since females receive two x chromosomes, they have a higher likelihood
of having varied fur color. Males only receive one x chromosome, so their fur color is
automatically less varied.