Genetics : Inheritance Patterns, Pedigrees, and Genetic Disorders

Study concepts, example questions & explanations for Genetics

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Example Questions

Example Question #21 : Inheritance Patterns, Pedigrees, And Genetic Disorders

Some say that the Russian Revolution was caused in part by Empress Alexandra's reliance on Rasputin for the care of her son Alexei, who had hemophilia, which she blamed herself for.

Why does it make sense that the Empress blame herself for her son's condition?

Possible Answers:

She mistreated her son while pregnant.

Hemophilia is caused by bad mothers.

Hemophilia is a sex-linked condition which is passed through the maternal line.

Hemophilia is English.

Correct answer:

Hemophilia is a sex-linked condition which is passed through the maternal line.

Explanation:

Hemophilia is a sex-linked trait which is carried on the X chromosomes. Females who have two X chromosomes need to gain 2 alleles with hemophilia in order to get the disease. Males, however, only have one X chromosomes which they get from their mother. If their mother was a carrier and passed on the allele for hemophilia, then her son who doesn't have another X-chromosome will get the disease.

Example Question #22 : Inheritance Patterns, Pedigrees, And Genetic Disorders

If an embryo inherits both A alleles, the embryo will not develop to term. If they only have 1 allele, the child will have dwarfism.

What percentage of child will be of normal height out of a cross of two parents with dwarfism?

Possible Answers:

50%

67%

25%

33%

Correct answer:

33%

Explanation:

When you do a punnet square you will see the portion of genotypes being 25% AA, 50% Aa and 25% aa. The AA allele is not viable, however, so only the Aa and aa genotypes would make it to term. Since 1 out of 3 children would have aa then the percentage would be 33%.

Example Question #23 : Inheritance Patterns, Pedigrees, And Genetic Disorders

You are a dog breeder and want to figure out the genotype of the female brown dog you have. Brown is the dominant phenotype, while white is the recessive. You decide to breed her with a male who is also brown and has strictly dominant brown alleles. If the female is heterozygous, what percentage of her litter should be white?

Possible Answers:

0%

75%

25%

50%

Correct answer:

0%

Explanation:

Since the father has only dominant alleles for the brown phenotype, all of the litter will be brown. However, half the litter should carry the recessive allele. The punnet square below shows the dad's genotype on top and the mom's genotype on the left. The outcome is that half the progeny will have the genotype BB and half will have the genotype Bb. Therefore, all offspring will have the brown phenotype.

      B      B

B  BB    BB

b  Bb     Bb

Example Question #24 : Inheritance Patterns, Pedigrees, And Genetic Disorders

Which of the following is not true about autosomal recessive inheritance?

Possible Answers:

An affected individual can only have a homozygous genotype.

An affected individual may not be seen in every generation.

A carrier has a 50% chance of passing the affected gene to their offspring.

An affected individual and a carrier have a 50% chance of having an affected offspring.

An affected offspring must have affected parents.

Correct answer:

An affected offspring must have affected parents.

Explanation:

In order for an offspring to be affected, it must receive an affected allele from both its parents. Hence, the parents can be either carriers or affected. This would give the affected offspring a homozygous recessive genotype (only possibility).

Example Question #25 : Inheritance Patterns, Pedigrees, And Genetic Disorders

Which of the following differentiates mitochondrial inheritance from X-linked inheritance?

Possible Answers:

No father to daughter transmission

No father to son transmission

None of the other answers is correct.

No mother to son transmission

No mother to daughter transmission 

Correct answer:

No father to daughter transmission

Explanation:

Mitochondrial inheritance only involves mother-to-offspring (son or daughter) transmission. Hence, both those choices can be eliminated. Both mitochondrial and X-linked inheritance do not include father-to-son transmission. Hence, the only differentiating transmission is father-to-daughter (not seen in mitochondrial).

Example Question #26 : Inheritance Patterns, Pedigrees, And Genetic Disorders

Based on conventional representation on a pedigree, which of the following symbols indicates a male affected by the genetic disorder being studied?

Possible Answers:

Set 01   female unaff

Set 01   male aff

Set 01   male unaff

Set 01   female aff

Set 01   undef squiggle

Correct answer:

Set 01   male aff

Explanation:

In conventional usage, each individual on the "family tree" that a pedigree represents is shown using a single shape. Males get square shapes; females get circular shapes. (Sometimes, individuals whose sex is not known or not specified will be shown with triangular shapes.)

Since pedigrees are often used to study genetic disorders, it is important to track who was affected by the disorder of interest across the family history. Affected individuals are shown with shaded, colored, etc. shapes, while individuals who did not have the disorder are shown with unfilled, "clear" shapes.

This question asks about an affected male. Since the individual is male, the shape is square; since the individual is affected by the genetic disorder, the shape is solid/filled.

Example Question #27 : Inheritance Patterns, Pedigrees, And Genetic Disorders

Which of the following is NOT an autosomal recessive disorder?

Possible Answers:

cystic fibrosis

Marfan's Syndrome

anemia

Tay-Sachs disease

Correct answer:

Marfan's Syndrome

Explanation:

The correct answer here is Marfan's syndrome. If you chose any of the other options, remember what it means to have an autosomal dominant disease vs. an autosomal recessive disorder. If a child has one of their alleles marked for the an autosomal dominant disease, they will exhibit the symptoms of this disease. This is correct for Marfan's disease. For all the other syndromes listed, a child must have both of their alleles marked with disease to exhibit the disease. 

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