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In Mendel's experiments, the phenotypic ratio of recessive to dominant plants is equal to:

Correct answer: C. 3:1

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

Explanation

Option C is correct.In Mendel's experiments, the phenotypic ratio of recessive to dominant plants was 3:1. Mendel conducted experiments on pea plants with two contrasting traits, such as seed color (yellow versus green) and flower color (purple versus white). He crossed two pure-breeding parent plants, one with yellow seeds and one with green seeds. All of the offspring of the first generation (F1) were yellow. This was puzzling because Mendel knew that both parents had the genes for both yellow and green seed color. He hypothesized that only one of the genes was expressed in the F1 offspring and that the other gene was hidden. He called the expressed gene the dominant gene, and the hidden gene the recessive gene. To test his hypothesis, Mendel crossed two F1 offspring together. The offspring of this second generation (F2) showed a 3:1 phenotypic ratio of yellow: and green seeds. This meant that 75% of the offspring had the dominant yellow phenotype, and 25% had the recessive green phenotype. Mendel's experiments demonstrated that the phenotypic ratio of recessive to dominant traits is always 3:1. This is because each organism inherits two copies of each gene, one from each parent. If the dominant gene is present on both copies of a gene, the organism will have the dominant phenotype. However, if the recessive gene is present on both copies of a gene, the organism will have the recessive phenotype.

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About Inheritance

Mendel's laws explain segregation, independent assortment and the prediction of genetic ratios using alleles, genotypes and phenotypes. The chapter also covers linked genes, recombination and crossing over during meiosis, then applies pedigree reasoning to X-linked recessive traits, which show different inheritance patterns in males and females.

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