Practice With Monohybrid Punnett Squares
Practice With Monohybrid Punnett Squares
Often times, people will refer to a trait or characteristic such as eye color or hair color as being genetic, but
what does the word genetic really mean?
Genetics is termed as the study of heredity and how traits in offspring are based upon those of the parents.
Heredity is the process in which traits (characteristics that can be passed only from a living thing
to its young) are passed from parents to offspring. A Punnett square is a grid system that can be set up and
used to predict the possible outcomes that may result from the mating process between two individuals, when
their genotypes are known. Each cell within the square is representative of one possible genotypic outcome for
any offspring. The term genotype refers to the genetic make-up of an organism. Genotype is represented by
using letters of the alphabet to stand for each allele that has been passed from the parents. A capital letter
represents the dominant allele and a lower case letter represents the recessive allele. Alleles are all the forms of
a gene for any given trait. There are usually two allele possibilities for every trait. For example: B and b are
both alleles for the trait of hair color. Since genotype is the genetic make-up, phenotype is the physical result of
a gene combination. Dominance is when one allele can mask the presence of another (B is the dominant gene
for brown hair). Recessive refers to a characteristic that is masked by the presence of a dominant allele (b is a
recessive gene for blonde hair). The only way to have a recessive trait expressed is to have both alleles be
recessive (bb, resulting in the blond hair color). Homozygous is defined by the occurrence where the paired
alleles for a specific trait, in this case hair color, are identical (BB or bb). If both parents are homozygous, they
can each only pass on one allele type to their offspring. This means that all the offspring will have one B and
one b allele and will be Bb genotype. This Bb genotype is termed as heterozygous. A heterozygous genotype
is when the genes that an offspring receives are different, Bb. In this instance, dominance will also be expressed
because the offspring will have the dominant trait of brown hair.
For the following pairs of traits, conduct a monohybrid cross to determine the genotype and phenotype of the
offspring.
1. Predict the genotypic and phenotypic outcome (offspring) of a cross between two heterozygous tall pea
plants.
2. In pea plants, yellow peas are dominant over green peas. Predict the genotypic and phenotypic outcome
of a cross between a plant heterozygous for yellow peas and a plant homozygous for green peas.
3. Predict the phenotypic and genotypic outcome (offspring) of a cross between two plants heterozygous
for yellow peas.
4. In pea plants, round peas are dominant over wrinkled peas. Predict the phenotypic and genotypic
outcome (offspring) of a cross between a plant homozygous for round peas and a plant homozygous for
wrinkled peas.
5. Predict the phenotypic and genotypic outcome (offspring) of a cross between two plants heterozygous
for round peas.
6. One cat carries heterozygous, long-haired traits (Ss), and its mate carries homozygous short-haired traits
(ss). Use a Punnett square to determine the probability of their offspring having long hair and the
probability of their offspring having short hair.
7. One flower is heterozygous red and it is crossed with a homozygous white plant. Use a Punnett square
to determine the probability of their offspring having a red color and the probability of their offspring
having a white color.
8. A woman who is a carrier (heterozygous) for Cystic Fibrosis marries a man who has Cystic Fibrosis, a
recessive disease. What are the genotypes? What is the probability that their children will have the
disease? What is the probability that their children will not have the disease? Show a Punnett square!
9. A woman who is a carrier (heterozygous) for Huntington’s Disease, which is a dominant disease,
marries a man who is also a carrier for the disease. What are the genotypes? What is the probability
that their children will have the disease? What is the probability that their children will not have the
disease? Show a Punnett square!