Practice Problems

1. Huntington's disease is inherited as an autosomal DOMINANT trait. A

heterozygous woman has a child with a normal male. What is the probability
that their child will have the disease?

A. 50%
B. 25%
C. 0%
D. 75%
E. 100%

2. A cross between red- and white-flowering four o'clock plants produces

offspring that have pink flowers. What would be the genotypic ratios of
offspring produced by two pink-flowering four o'clock plants?

A. 1 : 1
B. 1 : 2 : 1
C. 3 : 1
D. 9 : 3 : 3 : 1

3. In rabbits, if B = dominant black allele and b = recessive white allele,

which of the following genotypes could a white rabbit have?

A. BB
B. Bb
C. bb
D. BB or Bb

4. People with type O blood are _______________ and people with type AB blood
are _______________.

A. homozygous recessive ... heterozygous

B. heterozygous ... heterozygous
C. homozygous recessive ... homozygous dominant
D. homozygous dominant ... heterozygous
5. A cross between two heterozygous individuals (Hh x Hh) is expected to
produce offspring in a phenotypic ratio of ___________.

A. 1 : 2 : 1
B. 9 : 3 : 3 : 1
C. 3 : 1
D. 1 : 1

6. Suppose you have a guinea pig with black fur and you know that the allele for
black fur is dominant over the allele for brown fur. How might you determine
whether your guinea pig is a homozygous dominant ("purebred") or heterozygous
("mutt")?

A. by crossing it with a homozygous dominant

B. by crossing it with a homozygous recessive
C. by crossing it with a heterozygous animal
D. A or C

7. A male who is homozygous recessive (hh) for hypercholesterolemia marries a

woman who is homozygous dominant (HH). What percentage of their children
will have higher than normal blood cholesterol?

A. 50%
B. 100%
C. 75%
D. 25%
E. 0%

8. Tt pea plants can produce _____ type(s) of gametes and RrYy plants can
produce _____ type(s) of gametes.

A. 2 ... 4
B. 2 ... 2
C. 4 ... 4
D. 4 ... 2
9. Assume tall (T) is dominant to dwarf (t). What is the genotype of a true-breeding
tall individual?

A. homozygous recessive
B. heterozygous
C. homozygous dominant

10. In pea plants, the alleles R and Y are dominant to the alleles r and y. A
pea plant with the genotype RRYy will have the same phenotype as the plant
with the genotype RrYY.

A. True B. False
 Answer Keys

1. A

2. B

3. C

4. A

5. C

6. B

7. B

8. A

9. C

10. A