Question

An organism is _______ for a gene if it has two copies of the same allele for the gene.

The genotype of an organism and the interaction of the genotype with the environment determine the organism’s _______, or observable characteristics.
The law of independent assortment states that the separation of alleles for one gene are independent of that of other genes, unless the genes are _______.
Mendel’s law of _______ governs which allele is expressed in an individual.
Respond to the following based on your reading.

In the previous section, you learned that the allele for brown eyes (B) is dominant, and blue (b) and green eyes (g) are recessive, while green eyes are dominant over blue eyes. What eye color would someone with the following genotypes exhibit? (a) BB, (b) Bb, (c) gb, (d) Bg, (e) bb.
Discuss the law of segregation and explain why each organism has two copies of the gene for each trait expressed.
What type of experiments did Mendel conduct, and what did he want to find out about the heritability of the seven traits he chose to study?

Answer 1

1. Purebred (N.B: the exact word is considered a foul word)

2. Phenotype

3. Linked

4. Segregation

5) (a) BB- Brown eyes

(b) Bb- brown eyes

(c) gb- green eyes

(d) Bg- brown eyes

(e) bb- blue eyes

The other questions are explained below

Step-by-step explanation:

1. A purebred organism is that which possess two copies of the same alleles in its genotype. An allele is a contrasting form of a gene. If the two alleles are the same, the organism is said to be purebred.

2. Phenotype of an organism is the observable characteristics of the organism. It is determined by the organism's genotype in interaction with its environment.

3. Mendel's law of independent assortment states that the alleles of a gene will separate into gametes independently of another gene unless the genes are linked. Linked genes are genes that are too close to each other on a chromosome and hence, do not sort independently. They're rather inherited together.

4. Mendel’s law of Segregation governs which allele is expressed in an individual. According to this law, an organism will express the allele it randomly receives from each parent. If an organism receives two different alleles, it will express the allele that is dominant. In other words, an organism will only express the recessive trait if it receives two recessive alleles from both parents.

5. a) BB- Brown eyes because the organism is purebred for the dominant (brown) allele

(b) Bb- brown eyes because the brown allele (B) will mask the expression of blue allele (b) and express itself.

(c) gb- green eyes because the allele for green eyes (g) is dominant over the allele for blue eyes.

(d) Bg- brown eyes because the brown allele (B) is dominant over the allele for green eyes (g), hence, it will mask its expression

(e) bb- blue eyes because the organism is purebred for the blue allele i.e. same recessive (blue) alleles in the gene.

6. The law of segregation as proposed by Mendel states that the alleles of a gene will separate into gametes during gamete formation (meiosis). This is done in such a way that each gamete contains only one allele of each gene. Hence, an organisms will contain two copies of a gene because they receive each copy (allele) from each parent during fusion of their gametes.

7. Mendel conducted an hybridization experiment i.e. a cross involving two individuals that possess different traits. He did this in order to find out how different traits/characteristics in organisms were transferred from one generation to another. Mendel chose the pea plant for his experiment because they could easily be manipulated for self and cross pollination. Mendel studied seven (7) different traits or characteristics in pea plants including height, seed shape, seed color, flower color etc.