The color of this cucumber type is determined by two alleles:
- Y which is dominant and codes for the yellow color (dominant alleles are written in capital letters)
- y which is recessive and codes for green color (recessive alleles are written in lowercase letters)
Part 1 - a green cucumber will be obtained only when both alleles are recessive yy. This type is known as a homozygote and it is required that only the green trait is present.
- if the parents are as shown in the Punnett square (1 yellow heterozygote + 1 green homozygote), then half of the offspring will be green.
Side note - If the yellow parent, which has the dominant allele, were homozygote (YY), then none of the offspring would be green.
Part 2 - in order to obtain a yellow cucumber, it is required only the presence of a dominant yellow coding allele Y. Thus both heterozygotes (Yy) and homozygotes (Yy) will be yellow.
- if the parents are as shown in the Punnett square (1 yellow heterozygote + 1 green homozygote), then all the yellow offspring will be heterozygotes for yellow (Yy). 50% of the offspring will be yellow.
Side note - If the yellow parent, which has the dominant allele, were homozygote (YY), then all of the offspring would be yellow.