Asked in ETEA MDCAT 2005 2005Moderate

Law of independent assortment cannot be applied on:

Correct answer: C. Linked genes

  • A. Dominant genes
  • B. Recessive genes
  • C. Linked genes
  • D. Autosomal genes

Explanation

When the two homozygous parents differing in two pairs of contrasting traits are crossed, the inheritance of one pair is independent of the other. In other words, when a dihybrid forms gametes, assortment (distribution) of alleles of different traits is independent of their original combinations in the parents. Many genes are located on one chromosome, i.e. they are linked. Therefore, they pass through gametes in the form of a linkage group. However, recombinations are due to the crossing over that takes place during meiosis. Therefore, the law of independent assortment is applicable only for the traits which are located on different chromosomes. Thus, law of independent assortment is not universally applicable.

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About Gene Linkage and Crossing Over

Linked genes lie on the same chromosome and tend to pass together, unlike genes that assort independently on different chromosomes. The topic connects linkage with homologous pairing, crossing over during prophase I of meiosis, recombinant and parental offspring, and recombination frequency as an estimate of gene distance.

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