Question

A botanist has acquired a group of sweet pea plants. All of the plants have yellow pea pods (the recessive trait), except for one, which has green pea pods (the dominant trait). Pea pod color is a trait caused by a single gene. In this tutorial, you will determine how the botanist can identify the genotype of the green pea pod, and how this relates to Mendel’s laws and meiosis.How could the botanist best determine whether the genotype of the green-pod plant is homozygous or heterozygous?a. Cross the green-pod plant with a yellow-pod plant.b. Cross the green-pod plant with another green-pod plant.c. Self-pollinate the green-pod plant.

Answer 1

Cross the green-pod plant with a yellow-pod plant.

Step-by-step explanation:

To determine the zygosity of a particular individual, the best way is to cross it with a phenotypically recessive individual.

Such a cross in which an individual with unknown zygosity possessing a dominant trait is crossed with an individual possessing a recessive trait is termed as a test cross.

Therefore, in the given situation the zygosity of the green pod needs to be determined and the green pod is a dominant character. Further, it is given that a yellow pod is a recessive trait, therefore a test cross can be performed between the green pod and yellow pod, and then the offsprings can be observed.

if the offsprings are all phenotypically dominant then the green pod is homozygous and if there are phenotypically recessive offspring also present then the green pod is heterozygous genotypically.