Question

Normally, wild violets have yellow petals with dark brown markings end erect stems. Imagine you discover e plant with white petals, no markings, and prostrate stems. What experiment could you perform to determine whether the non-wild- type phenotypes are due to several different mutant genes or to the pleiotropic effects of alleles at e single locus? Explain how your experiment would settle the question.

Answer 1

It is fascinating to observe two distinct characters presented by the same plant. The inheritance of this plant can be determined easily by crossing the pure violets exhibiting yellow petals with dark brown marking and erect stems with violets exhibiting no markings, white petals, and prostate stems.

The F1 progeny will originate as a hybrid of the two characters. These F1 plants will then be crossed between themselves and the F2 progeny would be clearly evaluated. If the F2 plants come in the phenotypic ratio of 3: 1, then it would indicate the pleiotropic effect of the alleles found in a single locus. If any other combinations arise post crossing, it would indicate that the non-wild type phenotype is because of many distinct mutant genes.