Question

In many plants, variegated leaves (leaves with splotches, stripes, and other color variations) are a recessive trait, and solid-colored leaves are dominant.

a. Choose a letter and list the two alleles using that letter.
b. Using a Punnett square, show the possible genotypes that result from a cross between a plant with variegated leaves and a plant with heterozygous solid leaves.
c. List their possible phenotypes.

Answer 1

The alleles for variegated leaves are represented by Vv and vv. When a plant with variegated leaves is crossed with a plant with heterozygous solid leaves, the possible genotypes are Vv and vv. The possible phenotypes of the offspring are solid leaves and variegated leaves.

Step-by-step explanation:

a. The letter used to represent the alleles is V. The solid-colored allele is dominant and is represented by the uppercase letter V, while the variegated allele is recessive and is represented by the lowercase letter v.

b. Using a Punnett square, the possible genotypes that result from a cross between a plant with variegated leaves (vv) and a plant with heterozygous solid leaves (Vv) are:

Vv and vv

c. The possible phenotypes of the resulting offspring would be: solid leaves and variegated leaves.