Genetics Problem Set∗ and Solutions

1. In humans, earlobes are either “free” or “attached”. The free earlobe trait is dominant
over attached earlobes.
(a) A man with free earlobes marries a woman with attached earlobes. They have
eight children, all with free earlobes. What are the probable genotypes of the
individuals of the family?
(b) A man with free earlobes marries a woman with attached earlobes. Of their four
children, one has free earlobes and three have attached earlobes. Give the
genotypes of all members of the family.
(c) Could a man and a woman, both with attached earlobes, have a child with free
earlobes?
(d) Can a couple, one of whom is homozygous for the free earlobe trait and the other
homozygous for the attached earlobe trait, have a child with attached earlobes?
(e) Can a man and a woman, both with free earlobes, have children with attached
earlobes?
Use proper symbols to explain your answers.

2. A woman has a rare abnormality of the eyelids called ptosis, which makes it
impossible for her to open her eyes completely. The condition has been found to
depend on a dominant allele P. The woman’s father had ptosis, but her mother had
normal eyelids.
(a) What are the probable genotypes of the woman, of her father, and of her mother?
(b) What proportion of her children will be expected to have ptosis if she marries a
man with normal eyelids?

3. Mendel crossed pea plants producing round seeds with those producing wrinkled
seeds. From a total of 7,324 F2 seeds, 5,464 were round and 1,860 were wrinkled.
Using the symbols W and w for the alleles,
(a) symbolize the original P1 cross
(b) the gametes
(c) F1 progeny
(d) Represent a cross between two F1 plants (“self” cross)
(e) Symbolize the F1 gametes
(f) Summarize the expected F2 results under the headings Phenotypes, Genotypes,
Genotypic frequency, and phenotypic ratio.

4. In a certain series of matings between normal pigs, 38 offspring were born. Of these,
29 were normal and 9 had greatly swollen forelegs. The latter lived only a few hours.
How could these results be explained genetically?

5. Albinism is lethal in plants, yet many species of plants produce albinos among their
offspring. If albinos always die before reproducing, why does the character not
become eliminated?

∗
taken from Virkar, 1992
6. In human beings, the allele for the condition called “hitchhiker’s thumb” (h) is
recessive to that for the normal condition (H). From the study of the pedigree chart
below give the probable genotype of each individual represented. The squares
symbolize males and the circles females. The solid squares and circles represent
individuals with hitch-hiker’s thumb.

-----
|
------- -------
| |
----------------- -----------------
-------
|
-----------------

7. The French biologist Cuenot crossed wild, gray-colored mice with white mice. In the
first generation all were gray. From many litters he obtained in the F2, 198 gray and
72 white mice.
(a) Propose a hypothesis to explain these results
(b) On the basis of the hypothesis diagram the cross and compare the observed results
with those expected.

8. A drug, phenyl thiocarbamide (PTC), can be tasted by about 70% of American

people; others cannot taste it at all. Those who can taste it are called tasters. Those
who cannot taste PTC are said to be taste-blind. Tasters have a dominant allele for
the trait, whereas those who cannot taste the drug have two recessive alleles. Another
trait, albinism, is inherited as a simple recessive, the normal pigmented condition
being dominant. An albino man who is a taster and has a taste-blind mother, marries
a normally pigmented taste-blind woman whose father is an albino taster.
(a) What is the genotype of the man?
(b) What is the genotype of his wife?
(c) What types of children might this couple expect?

9. A woman with normal vision marries a man with normal vision. The woman’s father
is colorblind. The allele for colorblindness is recessive and X-linked. What proportion
of her sons will be colorblind? What proportion of her daughters will be colorblind?
 Solutions for Genetics Problem Set

2. P = ptosis
P = normal

Father x mother
P_ | pp
|
woman
P_

(a) mother must be pp

father must have P. May be either PP or Pp
woman = Pp received p from normal mother

(b) Pp x pp
|
|
offspring genotypes: 1 Pp : 1 pp
offspring phenotypes: 1 ptosis : 1 normal

3. 5,464 : 1,860 which is approximately 3:1

W = round
W = wrinkled

Recognize that 3:1 is the ratio found by Mendel in his F2

P WW x ww
|
|
F1 Ww x Ww
|(Self cross)
|
F2 genotype ratio: 1WW : 2Ww : 1ww
Phenotype ratio: 3 round : 1 wrinkled

4. 29 normal : 9 swollen is approximately 3:1

Recognize that 3:1 is the ratio found by Mendel in his F2

We know that normal is dominant over swollen since it is 3x
more abundant than swollen.
Let L = normal
l = swollen

F1 Ll x Ll
|
|
F2 Genotype ratio: 1 LL : 2 Ll : 1 ll
Phenotype ratio: 3 normal : 1 swollen

Both parents must have a normal phenotype (or else they die).
6. The trait is recessive. Heterozygotes act as carriers.

Hh-----Hh
|
hh-------Hh Hh-------hh
| |
----------------- -----------------
hh Hh hh hh ------ Hh hh Hh hh
|
-----------------
Hh hh hh Hh

7. Gray is dominant
M = gray
M = white
P MM x mm
Gray | white
|
F1 Mm x Mm
|
F2 Genotype ratio: 1 MM : 2 Mm : 1 mm
Phenotype ratio: 3 gray : 1 white

8. T = taster P = normal pigment

t = taste blind p = no pigment

_ _ _ _ x tt_ _ _ _ _ _ x T_pp
| mother | father
| |
T_pp X ttP_
Taster, albino man taste-blind, normal
pigment woman

The genotype of the man must be Ttpp. He received the t from

his mother.
The genotype of the woman must be ttPp. She received p from
her father.
 What are the genotypes of the children? The parents are Ttpp x
ttPp. Construct the Punnett square.

Mom
Dad Tp tp

tP TtPp ttPp

tp Ttpp ttpp

There are 4 genotypes and 4 phenotypes.

9. Colorblind is a sex-linked trait. The gene is on the X

chromosome.
B = normal
B = colorblind

Determine the woman’s genotype.

Xb y x X B X_
Father | Mother
|
X B Xb x XB y
Woman Husband

You know that she is XBXb since her father is colorblind.

Mom
Dad XB Xb

XB XBXB XBXb

y XB y Xb y

No colorblind daughters.
Half the sons are colorblind.