Q2.

If your mom has blood type O and your dad has blood type B, with no further information
besides knowing that A and B are co-dominant with each other and both are dominant over O,
what can you conclude about your own blood type?

Ans. Can’t be A

Q2. Blood type (A, B, AB, O) is determined by genotype at a single gene. Which of the following is
possible?

Ans. Having an AB child when the mom is AB and the dad is O

Q2. Blood type (A, B, AB, O) is determined by genotype at a single gene. Which of the following is
not possible?

Ans. Having an O child when the mom is A and the dad is A

Q3. When one has a bell-shaped distribution of traits caused by allelic variation at many genes,
why are the extreme phenotypes so much rarer than the intermediate phenotypes?

Ans. Because fewer combinations of genotypes can produce the extreme phenotypes than
produce the intermediate phenotypes

Q3. Why is it that having many genes affecting variation in a trait can produce nearly continuous
(and bell-curve-shaped) variation in that trait?

Ans. Because many different combinations of genes create the "mean" trait value, which results in
many intermediate phenotypes and few combinations of genes that create the extreme trait
values

Q4. You have identified a single mutation that, by itself without any influence from other genes,
causes individuals to have severe abdominal bleeding. After working on it for 10 years, you identify
the actual nucleotide associated with this genetic disease. You begin surveying people in the
population for this mutation, and you find a few people who have the mutation, but don’t exhibit
any abdominal bleeding. Based on what’s written here, what can you say most confidently about
this mutation?

Ans. The mutation recombines away from the SNP marker nearest to it

Ans. The mutation’s expression is affected by the external environment

Q4. In Labrador retrievers, there are three possible coat colors (black, brown and yellow) determined
by two different genes, E and B. The genotype E_B_ results in a black coat color, E_bb results in brown,
and ee__ results in a yellow coat color. Given this information, what can you conclude about E and B?

Ans. E and B are located on the same chromosome

Q4. You are studying the genetics of corn height on a small farm in Illinois. The farmer has noticed
that most of his plants are either tall or short. You know that height is closely linked to a marker, T,
so you genotype the plants at this marker. You discover that plants that are TT are almost always
tall, while plants that are tt are usually short, but occasionally tall. Given only this information,
what could possibly explain the tt plants that are tall?

Ans. Variable penetrance

Q5. Population studies in humans have estimated that each generation has about 63 new
mutations relative to their parents. Where do the majority of de novo (new) mutations come from?

Ans. The mother, because the eggs sit around for a while and thus have more opportunity to
mutate.

Ans. Mutations are just as likely to come from the father as they are the mother

Q5. The budding yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, has a genome size of about 1.2x10^\text{7}7
base pairs. Given that the average mutation rate in budding yeast is about 5x10 ^\text{-10}-10
mutations per base pair per generation, how many new mutations would you expect to see each
generation relative to their parents?

Ans. 6x10^-3

Q6. What is the purpose of genetic mapping?

Ans. To find where the disease causing genes are relative to markers

Q7. You are studying a family with a history of macular degeneration, an eye disease that causes
vision loss. You are interested in identifying the genes that are contributing to this disease, so you
sequence the genome of one afflicted individual and one healthy individual. What is the most
likely outcome of this study?

Ans. You will not be able to identify any genes that contribute to macular degeneration because
there will be thousands of differences in the genomes of two individuals and there is no way to
know which ones cause the disease

Q7 The year is 2015, and a mother, father, and daughter have had their genomes sequenced. Using this
approach, every base difference between these individuals has been identified, including any new
mutations that arose. The daughter has a dominant genetic disease never seen before, thus very likely
caused by a new mutation that arose in a parent’s gamete. With this information alone, should you be
able to identify the disease carrying mutation?
Ans. No, because it would be only one of many new mutations

Q8. You are studying fruit size in Prunus persica (peaches). You want to find a QTL
associated with the phenotype, and you genotype 4 markers, W, X, Y and Z. You get the
following data:

WW average fruit weight is 70g; Ww is 60g; ww is 50g

XX average fruit weight is 80g; Xx is 60g; xx is 40g

YY average fruit weight is 60g; Yy is 60g; yy is 60g

ZZ average fruit weight is 75g; Zz is 60g; zz is 45g

Which marker is likely closest to a gene that contributes to fruit size?

Ans. X
The figure below depicts data from a QTL mapping study of body weight in mice (just
looking at chromosome 8). From this plot alone, what would you conclude about body
weight in this cross between two pure-breeding mouse strains?

[Click here for the following graphic's text equivalent.]

Ans. At least one factor on chromosome 8 likely contributes to difference in weight among mice
strains

Q10. What might cause differences among ethnic groups in results of genome-wide association
studies with diseases?

Ans. All of the options are possible