Lab #4 – Mendelian Inheritance Simulation

18/20
Learning Outcomes:

 Understanding how traits are passed on from parents to their offspring and what causes
variation between siblings.

 Learning about Mendel's Laws of Inheritance in color deficiency.

 Understanding and predicting the phenotypes of offspring with given genotypes using
genetic crosses.

 Learning about dominant and recessive alleles, and how they play a part in an individual's
biological make-up.

1. What two colours are often hard to distinguish in people who are colour blind? (1 mark)
The two colours that are often hard to distinguish in people who are colour blind is Red-
Green.

2. What percentage of genetic information is passed on to offspring from parents? (1

mark)

☐ 100% from the mother

☐ 100% from the father
☐ 25% from the father, 25% from the mother and 50% from offspring
☒ 50% from mother and 50% from father

3. Zygotes are haploid cells which carry genetic information from a parent to their
offspring (1 mark)

☐ True
☒ False

4. Hybridization is the mating of two individuals from different breeds which are
genetically distinct. (1 mark)

☒ True
 ☐ False

5. Using a separate piece of paper, complete Punnett square for the cross of a pure black
mouse (aa) with a pure brown mouse (AA). What would you predict the genotypes of
the offspring would be? (1 mark)

☐ 25% AA, 50% Aa, 25% aa

☐ 50% AA, 50% aa
☐ 50% AA, 50% Aa
☒ 100% Aa

6. How many of the mice in the Punnett square from question #5 would have black fur? (1
mark)

☒0%
☐ 25%
☐ 50%
☐ 100%

7. Match the terms below to their correct definition (2 marks)

a. Law of Independent Assortment

b. Law of Segregation
c. Crossing Over
d. Meiosis
__b___ Each offspring receives one allele from each parent
__d___ Process of formation of gametes at the chromosomal level
__a___ Genes do not influence each other with regards to sorting into gametes
__c___ Genes located on the same chromosomes are swapped

8. Eye colour affects the rate of colour blindness. (1 mark)

☒ True
☐ False

9. The gene for colour blindness is located on which chromosome? (1 mark)

 X-Recessive Sex-Linked

10. In your own words, describe the term ‘carrier female’? (1mark)
A carrier female is a female that was born with a certain trait but does not necessarily
show signs or symptoms of that trait. She may pass on that trait to her offspring.

11. Describe the evidence that shows that colour blindness is a recessive trait. (1 mark)
Colour blindness is a recessive trait because it can only be passed to a male through his
X chromosome and a female can only become colour blind if she had a carrier mother
and a father who was colour blind.

12. In the simulation, Joseph couldn’t distinguish between the red and the green ice-cream.
What was Joseph’s genotype? (1 mark)

☐ Xc Xc
☒ XC Y
☐ XN XC
☐ XN Y

13. Imagine that Joseph marries a woman named Shelley who is a carrier of the colour blind
gene. Complete the Punnett Square to predict if their children would be colour blind (4
marks).
Joseph’s Alleles
Shelley’s Alleles

𝑋𝑐 Y

X X 𝑋𝑐 XY
𝑋𝑐 𝑋𝑐 𝑋𝑐 𝑋𝑐 Y

14. Using your results of the Punnet Square above, what percentage of Joseph and Shelley’s
female children would be colour blind? (1 mark)
☐0%
☒ 25%
☐ 50%
☐ 100%

15. Colour blindness is more commonly observed in males. Why is this? (1 mark)
 Colour Blindness is more commonly observed in males because it is an X-Recessive gene.
If the mother is a carrier, there is a 25% chance of the son being colour blind. A female
can only become colour blind if the father is also colour blind.

16. Can you name another trait that has the same inheritance pattern as colour blindness?
Hint: use your textbook for more information. (1 mark)
Another trait that has the same inheritance pattern as colour blindness is Hemophilia.
Males are more at risk of inheriting the trait if they have a carrier mother.