Question

If you had two guinea pigs of opposite sex, both homozygous, one black and one brown, but you didn't know which was the dominant characteristic, how would you find out the dominant color?

A) Cross them and observe the color of the offspring.

B) Perform a Punnett square.

C) Examine their pedigrees.

D) Both A and B.

Answer 1

To find out the dominant color of guinea pigs, you would conduct a test cross and observe the offspring, in addition to performing a Punnett square to predict the expected outcomes.

Step-by-step explanation:

To determine the dominant color in guinea pigs, you would cross them and observe the color of the offspring. This method is known as a test cross, which involves breeding a dominant expressing individual with an unknown genotype (one of the black or brown guinea pigs) and a homozygous recessive individual. If all offspring have the dominant trait, the unknown parent is homozygous dominant. However, if some offspring exhibit a recessive trait, the parent is heterozygous. Additionally, performing a Punnett square can predict potential outcomes by listing all possible combinations of the parental alleles to predict the possible outcomes and their expected frequencies. Thus, the correct answer to find out the dominant color is Both A and B.