How Genetics Determine Fur Length in Big Foots
1) For Big Foots, the gene for the length of fur has two alleles. The dominant allele (L) codes long shaggy fur and the recessive allele (l) codes shorter curly fur. A heterozygous and a homozygous recessive big foot are crossed. What percentage of offspring would be expected to have long shaggy fur? List the genotype(s) of the shaggy furred Big Foots.
Answer:
A punnet square can be described as a diagram which shows the outcomes of a cross between parents. This cross is very helpful to understand the passing of traits from parents to offsprings.
The cross for the above scenario can be shown as:
l l
Ll Ll
Ll Ll
ll ll
A. There will be a 50% chance that the offsprings will have long shaggy fur. There will be a 50% chance that the offsprings will have shorter curly fur.
B. The genotypes of the offsprings will be Ll and ll.
Explanation:
In this scenario, when a heterozygous Big Foot (Ll) which has long shaggy fur gene and a homozygous recessive Big Foot (ll) with shorter curly fur gene are crossed, the Punnett square shows that there is a 50% chance for the offspring to have long shaggy fur and a 50% chance for them to have shorter curly fur.
Therefore, genetics play a crucial role in determining the fur length of Big Foots, with the dominant allele (L) coding for long shaggy fur and the recessive allele (l) coding for shorter curly fur.