Question

In a population of dogs, curly hair is dominant over straight hair. If two parents are heterozygous for this trait, what is the probability that any of their offspring will have straight hair? A) 0% B) 25% C) 75% D) 100%

Answer 1

In a population where curly hair is dominant over straight hair, the probability of two heterozygous parents having an offspring with straight hair is 25%.

Step-by-step explanation:

This is a classical question about Mendelian genetics, specifically relating to dominance and recessive traits. Parents who are heterozygous have both the dominant as well as the recessive gene. Hence, when two heterozygous parents produce offspring, the Punnett square for their genotype would be as follows: 'Cc' x 'Cc'. Here, 'C' represents the dominant allele (curly hair) and 'c' represents the recessive allele (straight hair).

The possible combinations would give us 'CC', 'Cc', 'Cc', 'cc'. As you can see, three out of these four combinations have at least one dominant allele, which would result in curly hair. Only one combination, 'cc', exhibits the recessive trait which is straight hair. Hence, the probability of an offspring having straight hair is 1 in 4, or 25%.

Learn more about Mendelian Genetics