Question

A new human species was found on a distant planet, whose genetic inheritance and process of reproduction is identical to that of humans on earth, however, their phenotypes are much different. You are tracking two phenotypes in this new species: eye shape and tail size. The single gene that controls eye shape (gene E) is unlinked from the single gene that controls tail size (gene T). Square eyes is the dominant eye shape and round eyes is the recessive eye shape. Long tail is the dominant tail size and short tail is the recessive tail size.

Required:
An individual of this new species is heterozygous for gene E and heterozygous for gene T. What is their genotype and phenotype?

Answer 1

The individual has the genotype Ee (for the eyes) and Tt (for the tail) and has square eyes and a long tail.

Step-by-step explanation:

If an individual is heterozygous, it means that he has a dominant allele and a recessive allele for each genotype. In this case, if the individual is heterozygous for the E gene, he has the genotype formed with the "Ee" alleles. If the same individual is heterozygous for the T gene, it has the genotype formed by the "Tt" alleles.

Individuals with heterozygosis will present phenotypes related to the dominant allele, since the recessive allele is only expressed in hom0zygosis. In this case, the individual will have the phenotype square eyes and long tail.