CAMBRIDGE INTERNATIONAL AS & A LEVEL BIOLOGY: COURSEBOOK

Sample answers have been written by the authors.

Coursebook answers
Chapter 16
Self-assessment questions
1 The chromosomes are arranged in order 6 Mitosis Meiosis
of size.
number of division 1 2
2 prophase; because this is when the cycles
chromosomes appear as two chromatids number of daughter 2 4
joined by a centromere cells
3 during the growth of the zygote to an adult number of 8 4
chromosomes per
4 a prophase I (in fact, they pair before this, nucleus in daughter
during interphase but are seen for the first cells
time during prophase)
7 parental blood × blood
b prophase I
phenotypes group AB group AB
c anaphase I
parental IAIB IAIB
d anaphase II genotypes
parental IA or IB IA or IB
e telophase I gametes
5 Meiosis could not take place in a triploid,
3n, cell, because there is an odd number of male gametes
each chromosome, so they will not be able
IA IB
to pair up.
IA IAIA IAIB
In theory, meiosis can take place in a blood blood
tetraploid, 4n, cell because there is an even offspring group group
number of each kind of chromosome, so they genotypes female A AB
can each find a partner to pair up with. In and gametes IB IAIB IBIB
practice, meiosis is often very difficult in a phenotypes blood blood
4n cell because, if there are four homologous group group
chromosomes present, they all tend to join AB B
up with each other. Crossing over between
chromatids of different chromosomes results predicted offspring ratio:
in an inextricable tangle, so meiosis cannot 1 group A : 2 group AB : 1 group B
proceed effectively. There is therefore a one in four chance that the
child will have blood group B.

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8 11 a See the answer to Question 9 to show that

no white offspring could be produced if
parental blood × blood
the brown rabbit was homozygous.
phenotypes group A group B
parental IAIo IBIo parental brown × white
genotypes phenotypes
parental IA or Io IB or Io parental Bb bb
gametes genotypes
parental B or b b
male gametes gametes
IB Io
gametes
IAIB IAIo
from one
blood blood parent
offspring IA
group group A
genotypes female b
AB
and gametes B Bb
IBIo IoIo gametes
phenotypes F2 genotypes brown
Io blood blood from the
and
group B group O other b bb
phenotype
parent white
predicted offspring ratio:
1 group A : 1 group B : 1 group AB : 1 group O b Although the genetic diagram in a shows
that you would expect equal numbers
of brown and white offspring, this is
9 parental brown × white all down to chance. It is possible that,
phenotypes just by chance, all of the offspring are
parental BB bb brown, even though the brown parent was
genotypes heterozygous. You would need far larger
parental B b numbers of offspring, all brown, before
gametes you could safely say that the brown parent
does not have the b allele.
All offspring in the F1 generation will be Bb, 12 A man has one X and one Y chromosome, so
brown. half of his sperm carry an X chromosome and
10 parental half carry a Y chromosome. A woman has
brown × brown
two X chromosomes, so all of her eggs have
phenotypes
an X chromosome.
parental Bb Bb
genotypes If an X-carrying sperm fertilises an egg, the
child has XX and is female. If a Y-carrying
parental B or b B or b
sperm fertilises an egg, the child has XY and
gametes
is male.

male gametes The blood-clotting gene is on an X

chromosome, and the man passes his Y
B b
chromosome to his son. He cannot therefore
BB Bb pass on the haemophilia allele to his son.
F2 B brown brown
genotypes female 13 a For example, R for the normal, dominant
and gametes allele and r for the recessive allele. (It
Bb bb is always a good idea to choose a letter
phenotypes b brown white where the capital and small letters have
different shapes, so that you cannot
p redicted offspring ratio in F2 generation: mistake them.)
3 brown : 1 white

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b parental man with × woman b

phenotypes normal with
parental male with × female with
vision normal
phenotypes orange fur tortoiseshell
vision
fur
parental XRY XRXr
genotypes parental XCoY XCoXCB
genotypes
parental XR or Y XR or Xr
gametes parental XCo or Y XCo or XCB
gametes
male gametes
XR Y male gametes
XR XRXR XRY XCo Y
female male with
with normal XCoYCo XCoY
normal vision
F2 XCo female male
vision
genotypes female with with
and gametes Xr F2 orange orange
phenotype XRXr XrY genotypes female fur fur
female male with and gametes
with colour phenotype XCoXCB XCBY
normal blindness
female male
vision XCB
with with
There is a one in four chance that a child will be a tortoise- black
colour-blind boy. shell fur fur

14 a Male cats cannot be tortoiseshell because predicted offspring ratio: 1 orange female : 1
a tortoiseshell cat must have two different tortoiseshell female : 1 orange male : 1 black male
alleles of this gene. As the gene is on the
X chromosome, and male cats have one
X chromosome and one Y chromosome,
they can only have one allele of the gene.

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15 a Parent genotypes are GGDD and ggdd. All offspring will be heterozygous GgDd, and will have
grey body and dark eyes.

b parental phenotypes grey body, dark eyes × grey body, dark eyes
parental genotypes GgDd GgDd
parental gametes GD Gd gD gd GD Gd gD gd
offspring genotypes and phenotypes

gametes of one parent

GD Gd gD gd
GD GGDD GGDd GgDD GgDd
grey, dark grey, dark grey, dark grey, dark
Gd GGDd GGdd GgDd Ggdd
gametes of the grey, dark grey, pale grey, dark grey, pale
other parent gD GgDD GgDd ggDD ggDd
grey, dark grey, dark white, dark white, dark
gd GgDd Ggdd ggDd ggdd
grey, dark grey, pale white, dark white, pale

The expected phenotype ratios are therefore 9 grey body, dark eyes : 3 grey body, pale eyes : 3 white
body, dark eyes : 1 white body, pale eyes.

16 Key to symbols used for the alleles:

T = allele for tall stem

t = allele for short stem
G = allele for green leaves
g = allele for white leaves

parental phenotypes tall stem, green leaves × short stem, variegated leaves
parental genotypes TTGG ttGg
parental gametes TG tG or tg

gametes from one parent

tG tg
offspring genotypes and gametes from the other TG TtGG TtGg
phenotypes parent tall, green tall, variegated

17 a BBFF, BBFf, BbFF, BbFf

b Perform a test cross – that is, breed the animal with an animal showing both recessive
characteristics. If the offspring show one of the recessive characteristics, then the ‘unknown’
genotype must be heterozygous for that characteristic.

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18 a The F1 offspring will all have genotype FfGg.

b
F1 phenotypes white × white
parental genotypes FfGg FfGg

parental gametes FG  Fg  fG  fg FG  Fg  fG  fg

offspring genotypes and phenotypes

gametes of one parent

FG Fg fG fg
FFGG FFGg FfGG FfGg
FG
white white white white
FFGg FFgg FfGg Ffgg
Fg
gametes of the white white white white
other parent FfGG FfGg ffGG ffGg
fG
white white coloured coloured
FfGg Ffgg ffGg ffgg
fg
white white coloured white

Predicted F2 ratios: 13 white : 3 coloured

19 a b

genotype phenotype parental pink × white

AABB purple phenotypes
parental AAbb aaBB
AABb purple genotypes
AAbb pink parental Ab aB
gametes
AaBB purple F1 genotype All AaBb, purple
AaBb purple and
phenotype
Aabb pink

aaBB white

aaBb white

aabb white

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c
F1 phenotypes purple × purple
parental genotypes AaBb AaBb
parental gametes AB  Ab  aB  ab AB  Ab  aB ab

offspring genotypes and phenotypes

gametes of one parent

AB Ab aB ab
AABB AABb AaBB AaBb
AB
purple purple purple purple
AABb AAbb AaBb Aabb
Ab
gametes of the other purple pink purple pink
parent AaBB AaBb aaBB aaBb
aB
purple purple white white
AaBb Aabb aaBb aabb
ab
purple pink white white

Predicted F2 ratios: 9 purple : 3 pink : 4 white

20 1 striped, normal : 1 striped, aristopedia : 1 b As one parent has the genotype yygg, you
ebony, normal : 1 ebony, aristopedia can assume that alleles y and g are on the
same chromosome.
21 The woman is nnIAIo. The man is NNIBIo.
The father’s gametes can therefore be YG
 here is no need to work through this in
T or yg.
detail. If the man is homozygous for normal
fingernails, all of his children will inherit allele The offspring can therefore be YyGg
N, and will therefore have normal fingernails. (yellow, green) or yygg (blue, orange), in a
There is no chance that the child can have 1 : 1 ratio.
fingernails like his mother’s.
c If crossing over takes place, then a few
22 (Answers could be given as genetic diagrams.) gametes will have genotypes Yg and yG,
allowing a small chance that an offspring
a The possible genotypes of the gametes are with recombinant phenotypes (yellow,
YG, Yg, yG and yg from one parent, and orange and blue, green) can be produced.
yg from the other.
23 a 1:1:1:1
The possible genotypes and phenotypes
of their children are therefore: b Linkage; that is, the two loci are on
the same chromosome. The alleles for
YyGg (yellow, green), Yygg (yellow,
 grey body and straight wings are on
orange), yyGg (blue, green) and yygg one homologous chromosome in the
(blue, orange) in equal proportions. heterozygote and the alleles for ebony
body and curled wings are on the other
homologous chromosome.

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c 30 + 29
113 + 30 + 29 + 115
× 100% = 20.6% Reflection
24 The expected ratio would be 9 grey, dark : 3 Learners may suggest that cells that look identical,
grey, pale : 3 white, dark : 1 white, pale. The and that have identical sets of genes, can express
total number of offspring is 80, so you would different selections of these genes. This would
expect 9 ÷ 16 × 80 of these to be grey, dark, mean that they synthesise different combinations
and so on. of proteins. We cannot know exactly what would
cause the differences in which genes are expressed,
Expected numbers: but it would involve transcription factors.

9 ÷ 16 × 80 = 45 grey, dark Analysing DNA from two cells just tells you which
genes they have, and we would expect all of the
3 ÷ 16 × 80 = 15 grey, pale cells in the human body, for example, to contain
exactly the same DNA. However, analysing
3 ÷ 16 × 80 = 15 white, dark mRNA tells you which genes are actually
expressed, and therefore which proteins the cell is
1 ÷ 16 × 80 = 5 white, pale
making. Cells with different functions will express
The table shows how χ2 is calculated. different sets of genes and therefore make different
proteins.
Now look at Table 16.3. There are four classes
The newly discovered cell in the tracheal lining
of data, so there are three degrees of freedom.
involves the movement of chloride ions out of
The value for χ2 is much greater than any of
itself, which results in the movement of water
the numbers in this row so there is a significant
out of the cells as well. This keeps the mucus,
difference between the observed and expected
secreted by other cells in the tracheal lining,
results.
fluid, rather than becoming too viscous. The
Phenotypes of animals mucus traps microorganisms and particles in the
air moving down the trachea, and this mucus
dark grey white white is then swept upwards by the ciliated cells. The
Observed 54 4 4 18 chance of pathogens moving down into the lungs
number (O) is therefore reduced. It also means that the mucus
Expected ratio 9 3 3 1 itself is kept on the move easily, and does not
collect in the lungs, where it could be a breeding
Expected 45 15 15 5
ground for pathogens.
number (E)
O–E +9 –11 –11 +13
(O – E) 2
81 121 121 169
(O – E) /E
2
1.8 8.1 8.1 33.8
∑(O – E) /E 2

= 51.8
χ2 = 51.8

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