Question

Some Syrian hamsters have straight whiskers and others have curved whiskers. The gene for the whisker type trait has two alleles. The allele H is for straight whiskers, and the allele h is for curved whiskers.

Junior, a Syrian hamster from this group, has curved whiskers. Junior has two alleles for curved whiskers.
Based on this information, what is Junior's phenotype for the whisker type trait?
a
straight whiskers
b
Hh
c
hh
d
curved whiskers

Answer 1

Junior's phenotype for the whisker type traits is curved whiskers, reflecting his homozygous recessive genotype hh.

Step-by-step explanation:

Junior's phenotype for the whisker type trait is curved whiskers. In genetics, the term phenotype refers to the observable physical characteristics that result from the interaction of an organism's genotype with the environment. Since Junior has two alleles for curved whiskers, which is represented as hh, this is his genotype. However, the question specifically asks for the phenotype, which is the observable trait. Hence, the correct answer is curved whiskers, which directly correlates with the homozygous recessive genotype hh.