Question

A hypothetical species of plant has flowers whose color is controlled by a single gene with two alleles, red (R) and yellow (Y), where heterozygous individuals are orange. A population of 3190 of these plants includes 668 plants with yellow flowers and 437 plants with orange flowers.

Based on this information, answer the following question:
How many plants have red flowers?
A. 2085
B. 1205
C. 329
D. 2752

Answer 1

There are 2085 plants with red flowers in the population of 3190 plants. This is determined by subtracting the number of yellow and orange flower plants from the total.

Step-by-step explanation:

The student asked how many plants have red flowers in a population of flowers with a simple Mendelian trait of flower color determined by two alleles. In this hypothetical species, the allele for red color (R) and the allele for yellow color (Y) determine flower color, with orange being the heterozygous condition (RY). In the population of 3190 plants, there are 668 plants with yellow flowers (yy) and 437 plants with orange flowers (Ry), so we need to calculate how many have red flowers (RR).

To find the number of red flowers, we subtract the number of yellow and orange flowers from the total population:

• Total plants = 3190
• Yellow flowers = 668
• Orange flowers = 437
• Red flowers = Total plants - Yellow flowers - Orange flowers

Red flowers = 3190 - 668 - 437 = 2085

Therefore, the number of plants with red flowers is 2085 (Option A).