Question

In a group of Bengal tigers, some individuals have orange fur and others have white fur. In this group, the gene for the fur color trait has two alleles. The allele F is for orange fur, and the allele f is for white fur. Leo, a Bengal tiger from this group, has orange fur. Leo has one allele for orange fur and one allele for white fur. Based on this information, what is Leo's phenotype for the fur color trait?

a) Leo's phenotype is heterozygous for fur color.
b) Leo's phenotype is homozygous for orange fur.
c) Leo's phenotype is homozygous for white fur.
d) Leo's phenotype cannot be determined from the given information.

Answer 1

Leo's phenotype is the expression of orange fur, which indicates that he is heterozygous for the fur color trait as he has one dominant allele for orange (F) and one recessive allele for white (f).

Step-by-step explanation:

Leo, a Bengal tiger with one allele for orange fur (F) and one allele for white fur (f), displays orange fur. This indicates that the allele for orange fur (F) is dominant over the allele for white fur (f). Leo's phenotype is the set of observable characteristics, in this case, the orange fur. Since phenotype refers to the traits that are actually expressed and we know Leo has orange fur, we can ascertain that his phenotype for the fur color trait is orange. Following Mendelian genetics, an individual with one dominant and one recessive allele is considered heterozygous for that gene. Therefore, the correct answer to the question is (a) Leo's phenotype is heterozygous for fur color.