Question

In the endangered African watchamakallit, the offspring of a true-breeding black parent and a true-breeding white parent are all gray. When the gray offspring are crossed among themselves, their offspring occur in a ratio of 1 black :2 gray:1 white. Upon close examination of the coats, each hair of a gray animal is gray. What is the mode of inheritance?

Answer 1

The mode of inheritance for the African watchamakallit showing all gray offspring from true-breeding black and white parents is codominance, as indicated by the 1:2:1 genotypic ratio in the F2 generation.

Step-by-step explanation:

In the scenario involving the endangered African watchamakallit with a cross between true-breeding black and white parents producing all gray offspring, we're observing codominance as the mode of inheritance.

When gray offspring are crossed, resulting in a 1 black : 2 gray : 1 white ratio, it fits the expected genotypic ratio of a monohybrid cross with codominance. In this pattern, each gray hair on a gray animal confirms that indeed, no single allele is completely dominant over the other, and both traits appear independently rather than blending.

This 1:2:1 genotypic ratio matches Gregor Mendel's principles, where the F2 generation from an Aa x Aa cross (where A represents black and a represents white) segregates into AA, Aa, and aa offspring. The genotype AA would give black, Aa (or aA) would give gray, and aa would give white offspring.