AP Biology : Inheritance

Study concepts, example questions & explanations for AP Biology

varsity tutors app store varsity tutors android store

Example Questions

Example Question #1 : Understanding Dominant And Recessive Traits

In a certain breed of dog, yellow fur is dominant to black fur. A breeder of this breed is trying to figure out the genotype of one of her dogs with yellow fur. She decides to breed it with one of her dogs that has black fur.

What would be the ratio of offspring with yellow fur to offspring with black fur if the unknown parent was actually heterozygous for fur color? 

Possible Answers:

75% yellow and 25% black

100% black

50% yellow and 50% black

100% yellow

Correct answer:

50% yellow and 50% black

Explanation:

If the dog with the unknown genotype is heterozygous, our cross would be: Aa x aa. In this model, A represents the dominant yellow-fur allele and a represents the recessive black-fur allele. We the black furred dog has to be genotype aa because he displays the recessive phenotype. The offspring produced from this cross would be 2 Aa and 2 aa genotypes, based on a punnet square.

This cross would generate offspring that are 50% Aa and 50% aa. This corresponds to 50% yellow and 50% black.

Example Question #2 : Understanding Dominant And Recessive Traits

A certain kidney disease is controlled by an allele that is autosomal recessive. A man's father has the condition, while his mother is healthy and homozygous for the normal allele. If the man marries a woman who is a carrier, what is the probability that their first child will have the disease?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

First, we need to find the genotype of the man. We know that his father has the disease, and that his mother is homozygous dominant. For his father to display the autosomal recessive trait, he must be homozygous recessive. We can thus write the man's parents' genotypes, using A as the dominant allele and a as the recessive allele.

Parents: AA (mother) x aa (father)

Offspring: All offspring will be Aa.

The man must inherit one allele from each parent, meaning he must be heterozygous.

This man, we are told, marries a heterozygous woman and they have a child. Again, we can write out this cross.

Man and woman: Aa (man) x Aa (woman)

Offspring: 1 AA (dominant), 2 Aa (dominant), 1 aa (recessive)

The possible offspring from this cross show a three-to-one ratio for displaying the dominant phenotype. Only one of the four possible offspring will be homozygous recessive and display the recessive phenotype. This one-in-four chance correspond to a 25% chance.

Example Question #1 : Understanding Dominant And Recessive Traits

Two mice are crossed. The father is black and heterozygous, and the mother is white and homozygous. If they have twelve offspring, how many will most likely be white if the allele for color is autosomal?

Possible Answers:

Nine

Zero

Three

Twelve

Six

Correct answer:

Six

Explanation:

We know that the allele is autosomal, the father is heterozygous and black, and the mother is homozygous and white. From this information, we can determine that black must be dominant to white since the heterozygote shows the black phenotype. We will use B to represent the dominant black allele and b to represent the recessive white allele.

Cross: Bb x bb

Offspring: Half Bb (black) and half bb (white)

We can see that roughly half of the offspring will show the white phenotype. If there are twelve offspring, six of them will be white.

Example Question #31 : Inheritance

Imagine a flower that can have two different colors and two different seed shapes. Purple is dominant to white, and round seeds are dominant to wrinkled seeds. A pure breeding purple flower with round seeds is crossed with a pure breeding white flower with wrinkled seeds. The Fgeneration is then self crossed.

What proportion of the Fgeneration will be purple with wrinkled seeds?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

The first cross will produce a generation of double heterozygous flowers. Self-crossing this generation becomes a dihybrid cross problem.

In order to solve this problem, you can use either a punnett square and count the squares that display this phenotype, or you can use probability. Since purple is dominant, three out of four flowers will display the color purple. Since wrinkled is recessive to round, only one out of four flowers will display this phenotype. Since the flowers in question must express both of these traits, we can simply multiply these two fractions together.

You should be familiar with the 9:3:3:1 ratio of dihybrid cross phenotypes. A phenotype of one dominant trait and one recessive trait will always be observed with a  frequency.

Example Question #188 : Evolution And Genetics

What is an allele? 

Possible Answers:

A genetic feature unique to plants 

A copy of a chromosome

One of several alternative versions of the same gene

A type of gene

Correct answer:

One of several alternative versions of the same gene

Explanation:

Alleles are simply different versions of the same gene that encode for variations of the same characteristic. For example, different eye colors are encoded by different alleles of the same gene.   

Example Question #189 : Evolution And Genetics

Which of the following is an example of an somatic cell?  

Possible Answers:

Ovum only

Sperm cell and ovum

Sperm cell only

Muscle cell

Correct answer:

Muscle cell

Explanation:

Somatic cells in humans have two copies of each chromosome (2n=46) as opposed to haploid cells which have only one set of chromosomes (n=23). Muscle cells are somatic cells, sperm and ova are haploid cells, since they are gametes.  

Example Question #34 : Inheritance

Which of the following is an example of a haploid cell? 

Possible Answers:

Brain cell

Zygote

Sperm cell

Skin cell

Correct answer:

Sperm cell

Explanation:

A haploid cell is a cell that possesses only a single set of chromosomes (n=23) as opposed to the double set found in somatic cells (2n=46). The gametes (sperm and ova) in humans are examples of haploid cells. Also, the zygote is formed upon fusion of two gametes, and is thus diploid.    

Example Question #31 : Inheritance

The mating of two varieties of a species is called __________.

Possible Answers:

a Mendelian cross

true-breeding

cross-pollination

hybridization

Correct answer:

hybridization

Explanation:

Hybridization is the mating of two varieties of a species to produce hybrids. A classic example would be crossing purple flowered pea plants and white flowered pea plants. The resulting offspring would all be genetic hybrids in this case though they may only display one color.   

Example Question #32 : Inheritance

If A is a dominant allele conferring brown hair and a is the recessive allele conferring blonde hair, a heterozygote as what genotype?

Possible Answers:

AA

Blonde hair

Brown hair

Aa

Correct answer:

Aa

Explanation:

A genotype is the genetic makeup of alleles coding for a characteristic. In this example, a heterozygote has one recessive and one dominant allele, making the genotype Aa. The phenotype is the observable expression of the genotype. Since a heterozygote has one dominant allele and one recessive allele, the dominant allele is exhibited, thus the phenotype is brown hair.

Example Question #32 : Inheritance

If B is a dominant allele conferring a purple flower and b is the recessive allele conferring a white flower, a homozygote recessive plant will have what phenotype?

Possible Answers:

Aa

aa

White flowers

Purple flowers

Correct answer:

White flowers

Explanation:

The phenotype is the observable characteristic of an individual. In this example, a homozygous recessive plant will have a white flower phenotype and a genotype of aa.

Learning Tools by Varsity Tutors