Exceptions to Mendel’s Laws:

Co-dominance
Incomplete Dominance
Multiple Alleles
Lethal Genes

Test Cross
 B=brown
b= blue
Test Cross:

 designed to reveal the genotype of an organism that

exhibits the dominant trait
– Brown eyes might be BB or Bb… how can we tell??
 cross the organism with an individual expressing the
recessive trait….bb

 What will this tell us?

 Johnny has brown eyes… what is his genotype?

Complete the Punnett Squares:

The Results:

 -if all the offspring of the cross show the

dominant trait (brown eyes), then the parent
must be homozygous for the dominant allele

 -if both phenotypes appear among the offspring

then the parent must have been heterozygous for
the trait
Proving the genotype:

 If you are asked to prove a genotype of an

individual (with a dominant trait), use a
testcross
 Cross the unknown genotype with an individual
who is homozygous recessive
Co-dominance:

 Two alleles of a gene are clearly expressed in

the phenotype (equally)
– Ex. Roan colour in cattle – coat has both red and
white hairs in it
– AB blood type in humans - IA & IB alleles are present
Punnett Square – Roan Cattle

•In certain cattle, the hair colour can be red- RR, white- R’R’, or
roan- RR’
•Cross a red bull with a white cow
•Cross an offsrping from the F1 generation with a white cow
Incomplete Dominance:

 Two alleles of a gene appear to be blended

into the phenotype
– Red snapdragons X white snapdragons = pink!
Multiple Alleles:
Polygenic Inheritance

 Some genes have 3 or more alleles BUT you

can only have two alleles for a trait
– Ex. Skin color or height in humans
– Human blood types ABO
– There are 4 phenotypes A, B, AB & O produced from
3 alleles IA-dominant, IB – dominant, & i - recessive
Coat Colour in Rabbits

Four phenotypes and four alleles

Allelic series is C > cch > ch > c (which is most dominant)
Coat Color Phenotype Genotype
Full Color CC, Ccch, Cch, Cc
Chinchilla cchcch, cchch, cchc
Himalayan chch, chc
Albino cc
Punnett Square – Blood Groups:

 Show a cross between a person who has

heterozygous A type blood & a person who has
homozygous B type blood.
I Ai x I BI B Genotypes:

Phenotypes:
Lethal Genes:

 Some genes are lethal when present in the

homozygous condition (dominant or recessive)
– Ex. In chickens, when an embryo contains two
copies of the recessive gene known as creeper, the
embryo dies inside the eggshell.
 Chicks that are heterozygous for the gene survive
– In mice, yellow coat colour is dominant to grey
 Mice that have YY (pure yellow) coat colour do not survive
Example with Mouse Coat Colour

 Yellow is dominant to grey

 Cross hybrid yellow mice Yy x Yy

Resulting offspring:
2 yellow to 1 grey
One genotype is missing

Somehow the YY genotype is lethal

The 2:1 ratio is the typical ratio for a lethal gene.
 Answers to samples:

A •child’s phenotype is O, the genotype must be ii (recessive)

•father (A) and mother (B) must both carry the recessive
allele
•Father’s genotype IAi and mother’s genotype IBi
B

C Chance of having an
AB type baby is
25%
a) The offspring occur in three types, classified as long, round
and oval (intermediate), suggesting incomplete dominance
• Long (L) Round (L’) Oval (LL’) - heterozygous
Test this idea…. LL’ x LL’ Gives a ratio of 1 long to 2 oval to 1
round radishes.
b) (LL x LL), all the offspring will be
long.
c) (L’L’ x L’L’), all the offspring will be
round.
A)  Since ¼ of the eggs don’t hatch – lethal gene
 Crested (C) and non-crested (c) then both parents would have to
be Cc ( eg. Cc x Cc)
All the eggs with CC genotype would
not hatch
Viable offspring would hatch in a ratio
of 2 crested to 1 non-crested
B) Cc x cc

Ratio: 1Cc to 1 cc
1 crested to 1 non
A) Bull’s genotype RR, Cow’s genotype R’R’
B)
RR’ x R’R’

All of the offspring have RR’

genotype and will be roan Ratio of 2 roan to 2 white calves