Patterns of Inheritance

8.1 Mendels Experiments

Chapter 8

What plant did Gregor Mendel use in his experiments?

The plant was self-pollinating and tended to be true breeding. Define those two terms.
Self-pollinating
True breeding

What is a hybridization and how did Mendel do hybridizations with pea plants?

Define each of the following generations of a hybridization cross

P
F1
F2

Garden Pea Characteristics Revealed the Basics of Heredity

What pea plant traits did Mendel Study?
What is a trait?
What important checks did Mendel use to confirm that, other than flower color, the
parental generation of pea
plants only differed with respect to one trait, flower color? (Read
the second paragraph of this section)
1.
2.
After crossing purple (violet) flowers with white flowers, what color were the flowers of the
F1 generation?
Did the colors/trait blend?
Which trait was expressed (seen)?
When Mendel allowed the F1 generation to self-fertilize what were the results?

What is a dominant trait? In your answer include whether purple or white was the
dominant trait.
What is a recessive trait? In your answer include whether purple or white was the
dominant trait.
Mendel noted that the recessive trait disappeared in the hybrids (F 1) but reappeared in the
F2 generation. Fill in
the following sentences to show what he was able to conclude and
propose?
1. Traits remained ___________ (were not blended) in the plants of the F 1 generation.
2. Plants possess ___________ copies of the ___________ for the flower-color
characteristic
came

3. Each parent ___________ one of their two copies to their ___________, where they
___________.

4. The physical observation of a ___________ trait could mean that the organism had
two ___________
versions of the characteristic, or that it had one ___________ and one
___________ version
5. The observation of a recessive trait meant that the organism lacked any
___________ versions of this
characteristic.

8.2 Laws of Inheritance

The seven ______________ that Mendel evaluated in his pea plants were each expressed as
one of two ______________, or traits. Mendel ______________ from his results that each individual
had ______________ discrete copies of the characteristic that are passed individually to offspring.
We now call those two copies ______________, which are carried on ______________. The reason we
have two copies of each gene is that we ______________ one from each ______________. In fact, it is
the chromosomes we inherit and the two copies of each gene are located on ______________
chromosomes. Recall that in ______________ these chromosomes are ______________ out into
haploid gametes. This separation, or ______________, of the homologous chromosomes means
also that ______________ one of the copies of the gene gets moved into a ______________. The
offspring are ______________ when that ______________ unites with one from another parent and the
two copies of each gene (and chromosome) are ______________.
For cases in which a ______________ gene controls a single ______________, a ______________
organism has two ______________ copies that may or may not encode the same ______________ of
that characteristic. For example, one individual may carry a gene that determines ______________
flower color and a gene that determines ______________ flower color. Gene ______________ that
arise by ______________ and exist at the same relative locations on homologous chromosomes are
called ______________. Mendel examined the inheritance of genes with just ______________ allele
forms, but it is ______________ to encounter more than two ______________ for any given gene in a
natural population.

Phenotypes and Genotypes

Define each of the following
Phenotype
Genotype
Homozygous
Heterozygous

Match each of the following statements with

A. Phenotype
B. Genotype
____ Observable traits expressed by an organism
____ An organisms underlying genetic makeup consisting of two alleles for each gene
____The Guinea pigs fur was brown
____ The Guinea pig had two alleles for fur color
____ Bob has a dominant allele from his dad and a recessive allele from his mom, while Tim has
two recessive alleles.
____ Bob can roll his tongue, but Tim can not
____ 25% of the fruit flies had alleles WW, 25% had alleles Ww, and 50% had alleles ww.
____ 50% of the fruit flies had wild type wings and 50% had curly wings
Use the figure for information to answer the
questions. Highlight the correct answers.
Which are homozygous?

(there may be more than one

answer)

P (yellow)

p (green)

F1

F2

Which are heterozygous?

P (yellow)
p (green)

F1

F2

Which have some homozygous and some

heterozygous?
P (yellow)
p (green)
F1
F2

Law of Dominance
Why were the F1 heterozygous offspring identical to one of the parents, rather than
expressing both alleles?
Fill in the table using purple and white flowers rather than the pea color trait shown in a
similar table in the textbook. Choose a letter to represent the genotype (the table in the
textbook used Y and y for pea color). Indicate the color for the phenotype.
Correspondence between Genotype and Phenotype for a Dominant-Recessive
Characteristic
Homozygous
Heterozygous
Homozygous
(Dominant)
(Recessive)
Genotype
Phenotype

What is the Law of Dominance?

In the following cross, highlight which trait is the dominant trait. A true-breeding black
haired shrew was crossed with a true-breeding white haired shrew. All of the offspring
were white.
Black
White
In the following cross, highlight which trait is the recessive trait. A round-shaped gourd
was crossed with an elongate-shaped gourd. All of the offspring were round-shaped.
Round
Elongated

Match the following

_____ Gene

A.

An individuals traits

_____ Locus

B.

Heterozygous

_____ Dominant allele

_____ True-breeding

C.
D.

_____ Hybrids

Homozygous: a pair of identical alleles

Location of a gene
E.

An individuals genes

_____ Genotype

F.

A trait that is always expressed

_____ Phenotype

G.

Heritable unit of information

Monohybrid Cross and the Punnett Square

Read through and study the sections on Monohybrid Cross and the Punnett Square and Law of
Segregation. Use the figures to help with understanding how to analyze genetic crosses with a
Punnett Square. You can also refer to the PowerPoint Lecture for chapter 8.
The gene for earlobe shape has two alleles. The dominant allele (E) is for detached earlobes
while the recessive allele (e) is for attached earlobes. We will start by crossing a homozygous
dominant dad with a homozygous recessive mom.
1. Determine the genotype of the parents
Dad = homozygous dominant = ______
for recessive.)

Mom = homozygous recessive = _____

(Remember that homozygous means the same two alleles. Use capital letters for dominant and lower case letters

2. Determine what each parents gametes will be (remember that homologous pairs are
separated during meiosis, so during meiosis one E will segregate into one gamete, while the
other E will segregate into the
other gamete)
Dads gametes _______ and ________

Moms gametes _______ and

________
3. Place the gametes in the Punnett square
Dads go vertically in the first column
Moms go horizontally across the top
4. Determine what the possible outcomes are if either of dads
gametes fuses
with either of moms eggs and fill in the empty
squares with the matches.

Female
gamete

Female
gamete

Male
gamet
e
Male
gamet
e

5. Determine the probability of the genotypes and phenotypes of the offspring for this
cross.
a. Genotype possibilities are EE, Ee, or ee
Count up how many out of four of each combination are in the Punnett square
EE : Ee : ee
____ : ____ : ____
b. Phenotype possibilities are Detached or Attached
Count up how many out of the four of each trait are in the Punnett square (If
it has at
least one dominant allele (E), then it will have the
dominant phenotype)
Detached : Attached
_____ : _____

Punnett Square Practice

Cross a heterozygous dad with a heterozygous mom: Ee X Ee

Genotypes of the offspring

EE

Phenotypes of the offspring

Ee : ee

Detached : Attached

____ : ____ : ____

_____ : _____

Cross a heterozygous dad with a homozygous dominant mom: Ee X EE

Genotypes of the offspring

EE

Phenotypes of the offspring

Ee : ee

Detached : Attached

____ : ____ : ____

_____ : _____

Cross a homozygous recessive dad with a heterozygous mom: ee x Ee

Genotypes of the offspring

EE

Phenotypes of the offspring

Ee : ee

Detached : Attached

____ : ____ : ____

_____ : _____

Law of Independent Assortment

Read through this section paying special attention to each of the figures, and then work through
the following dihybrid cross. For more information refer to the PowerPoint Lecture.
Pea plants have a gene for flower color with purple as the dominant allele (A) and white as the
recessive allele (a). Pea plants also have a gene for plant height with tall as dominant (B) and
dwarf as recessive (b). True-breeding (homozygous) purple flowering tall plants were crossed
with true-breeding (homozygous) white flowering dwarf plants.
1. Determine the genotype of the parents. Each has two alleles of the color gene and two
alleles of the height
gene. So each parent genotype has to four letters total. Example
genotypes: AABB, AaBb, aabb, etc.
Dad = homozygous dominant = ________

Mom = homozygous recessive =

_______
2. Determine what each parents gametes will be.
For example, Dads genotype is AABB. The first A could sort with the first B or
the first A could
sort with the second B to make two of the possible four
gametes.
Determining Dads gametes

Determining Moms

gametes

Dads gametes _____, ____ , _____ and ______

and ______

Moms gametes _____, ____ , _____

3. Place the gametes in a Punnett square

ab

(already done for you)

4. Determine what the possible outcomes are if

either of dads gametes fuses with either of
moms eggs and fill in the empty squares with
the matches.
Put the two A alleles together and the two B
alleles togetherdont alternate them (AABB
would be correct, ABAB would be incorrect).

AB
AB
AB
AB

5. What is the genotype of the offspring?

6. What is the phenotype of the offspring?

ab

ab

ab

Referring back to the section and the PowerPoint Lecture as needed, work through the following
dihybrid cross.
The F1 offspring of the previous cross are crossed with each other. Heterozygous purple
flowering tall plants are crossed with heterozygous purple flowering tall plants.
1. Determine the genotype of the parents (two genes so four letters for each genotype:
AABB, AaBb, aabb, etc.)
Dad = heterozygous for both traits = ________
Mom = heterozygous for both traits = _________
2. Determine what each parents gametes will be. For example:
Determining Dads and Moms gametes
same sets of gametes)

(they have the same genotype, so the

Dads gametes _____, ____ , _____ and ______

and ______

Moms gametes _____, ____ , _____

3. Place the gametes in a Punnett square

AB

(already done for you)

4. Determine what the possible outcomes are if

any of dads gametes fuses with any of moms eggs
and fill in the empty
squares with the matches.

Ab

aB

ab

AB
Ab
aB
ab

5. Determine how many of each type of genotype and the phenotype ratios
________ AABB
________ purple flowering tall plants
________ AABb
________ purple flowering dwarf plants
________ AAbb
________ white flowering tall plants
________ AaBB
________ white flowering dwarf plant
________ AaBb
________ Aabb
________ aaBB
________ aaBb
________ aabb

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8.3 Extensions of the Laws of Inheritance

For each of the following define the term and provide an example from the text book
Incomplete dominance
Definition
Example
Co-dominance
Definition
Example
Multiple alleles
Definition
Example
Sex-Linked Traits
Definition
Example
Linked Genes
Definition
Example
Epistasis
Definition
Example

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