In Dexter and Kerry cattle, animals may be polled (hornless) or horned. The Dexter animals have short legs, whereas the Kerry animals have long legs. When many offspring were obtained from matings between polled Kerrys and horned Dexters, half were found to be polled Dexters and half polled Kerrys. When these two types of F₁ cattle were mated to one another, the following F₂ data were obtained:
3/8 polled Dexters
3/8 polled Kerrys
1/8 horned Dexters
1/8 horned Kerrys
A geneticist was puzzled by these data and interviewed farmers who had bred these cattle for decades. She learned that Kerrys were true breeding. Dexters, on the other hand, were not true breeding and never produced as many offspring as Kerrys. Provide a genetic explanation for these observations.

A geneticist from an alien planet that prohibits genetic research brought with him to Earth two pure-breeding lines of frogs. One line croaks by uttering 'rib-it rib-it' and has purple eyes. The other line croaks more softly by muttering 'knee-deep knee-deep' and has green eyes. With a newfound freedom of inquiry, the geneticist mated the two types of frogs, producing F₁ frogs that were all utterers and had blue eyes. A large F₂ generation then yielded the following ratios:

27/64 blue-eyed, 'rib-it' utterer

12/64 green-eyed, 'rib-it' utterer

9/64 blue-eyed, 'knee-deep' mutterer

9/64 purple-eyed, 'rib-it' utterer

4/64 green-eyed, 'knee-deep' mutterer

3/64 purple-eyed, 'knee-deep' mutterer

Of these, how many are controlling eye color? How can you tell? How many are controlling croaking?

A geneticist from an alien planet that prohibits genetic research brought with him to Earth two pure-breeding lines of frogs. One line croaks by uttering 'rib-it rib-it' and has purple eyes. The other line croaks more softly by muttering 'knee-deep knee-deep' and has green eyes. With a newfound freedom of inquiry, the geneticist mated the two types of frogs, producing F₁ frogs that were all utterers and had blue eyes. A large F₂ generation then yielded the following ratios:

27/64 blue-eyed, 'rib-it' utterer

12/64 green-eyed, 'rib-it' utterer

9/64 blue-eyed, 'knee-deep' mutterer

9/64 purple-eyed, 'rib-it' utterer

4/64 green-eyed, 'knee-deep' mutterer

3/64 purple-eyed, 'knee-deep' mutterer

Assign gene symbols for all phenotypes and indicate the genotypes of the P₁ and F₁ frogs.

A geneticist from an alien planet that prohibits genetic research brought with him to Earth two pure-breeding lines of frogs. One line croaks by uttering 'rib-it rib-it' and has purple eyes. The other line croaks more softly by muttering 'knee-deep knee-deep' and has green eyes. With a newfound freedom of inquiry, the geneticist mated the two types of frogs, producing F₁ frogs that were all utterers and had blue eyes. A large F₂ generation then yielded the following ratios:

27/64 blue-eyed, 'rib-it' utterer

12/64 green-eyed, 'rib-it' utterer

9/64 blue-eyed, 'knee-deep' mutterer

9/64 purple-eyed, 'rib-it' utterer

4/64 green-eyed, 'knee-deep' mutterer

3/64 purple-eyed, 'knee-deep' mutterer

How many total gene pairs are involved in the inheritance of both traits? Support your answer.

A true-breeding purple-leafed plant isolated from one side of El Yunque, the rain forest in Puerto Rico, was crossed to a true-breeding white variety found on the other side. The F₁ offspring were all purple. A large number of F₁ x F₁ crosses produced the following results:

purple: 4219, white: 5781 (Total = 10,000)

Propose an explanation for the inheritance of leaf color. As a geneticist, how might you go about testing your hypothesis? Describe the genetic experiments that you would conduct.

Labrador retrievers may be black, brown (chocolate), or golden (yellow) in color (see chapter-opening photo). While each color may breed true, many different outcomes are seen when numerous litters are examined from a variety of matings where the parents are not necessarily true breeding. Following are just some of the many possibilities.

(a) black x brown → all black

(b) black x brown → 1/2 black, 1/2 brown

(c) black x brown → 3/4 black, 1/4 golden

(d) black x golden → all black

(e) black x golden → 4/8 golden 3/8 black 1/8 brown

(f) black x golden → 2/4 golden 1/4 black 1/4 brown

(g) brown x brown → 3/4 brown 1/4 golden

(h) black x black → 9/16 black 4/16 golden, 3/16 brown

Propose a mode of inheritance that is consistent with these data, and indicate the corresponding genotypes of the parents in each mating. Indicate as well the genotypes of dogs that breed true for each color.

Contrast penetrance and expressivity as the terms relate to phenotypic expression.