Question

On a trip to Mars, you discover a new lifeform, which you name quinks. You decide to look at the genetics behind both body shape and fur color of the quinks. You start with two true-breeding quinks. Galax is a square, purple quink. Nova is a round, green quink. All of the baby quinks from Galax and Nova are square shaped with green fur. Note, questions 1-8 below are all connected to each other.

1. Based on the information provided above, what alleles are dominant?

2. Based on the information provided in the introduction paragraph, what are the genotypes of the F1 offspring of Galax and Nova? Your answer must include the ratio of these genotypes. Make sure that you define the symbols you use for your alleles.

3. During your study, one of the F1 baby quinks from question 2 (you name him Jet) falls in love with a true-breeding round shaped, purple quink named Terra. Jet and Terra shortly have babies of their own (quinks grow up quickly!) What are the genotypes of the offspring of Jet and Terra? Your answer must include the ratio of these genotypes. Make sure that you define the symbols you use for your alleles.

4. What are the phenotypes of the offspring of Jet and Terra from question 3? Your answer must include the ratio of these phenotypes.

5. Your astronaut coworker Buzz wants to do a test cross with one of the square shaped quink babies of Jet and Terra from question 3/4. Buzz calls this square-shaped quink Helio. Why might Buzz want to do this test cross?

6. For this test cross in question 5, you have four quinks to pick from, listed below. Which one do you use to mate with Helio for the test cross? (Pick one)

a. A quink named Orbit with a square body shape (homozygous)

b. A quink named Sunspot with a round body shape (homozygous)

c. A quink named Lumi with a square body shape (heterozygous)

d. A quink named Aerial with a round body shape (heterozygous)

7. You loved your trip to Mars so much, that you went back to further study quinks. On your second trip, you find a quink that has orange fur named Orion. You cross Orion with Nova (true-breeding green quink, from the opening paragraph) and get 50% green and 50% spotted (both orange and green spots) quinks. What is a possible explanation for this? You must support your answer using genetic details.

8. What is the genotype of Orion from question 7? Make sure that you define the symbols you use for your alleles.

Answer 1