17.

2 - Applications
of Simple Genetic
Crosses
• Test Crosses
• Incomplete dominance and Codominance
• Multiple Alleles
• Sex-Linked Traits
 How do you Know?
• Q: If you pluck a purple pea flower from your garden, how do you know if
its genotype is PP or Pp?

x p. 588

• A: cross it with a flower with a known genotype & use phenotype ratios
from offspring to figure it out!
 Use a test cross when you want
to find out the genotype of an
organism

a genetic cross between the

organism of unknown genotype
Test Cross (P?) to a homozygous recessive
organism (pp)

depending on the phenotypic

frequency of the offspring, the
genotype of the unknown
parent can be determined.
If Purple Flower is Pp
Pp x pp
P p
p Pp pp
p Pp pp

Offspring Phenotypes:
50% purple, 50% white
If Purple Flower is PP
PP x pp

P P
p Pp Pp
p Pp Pp

Offspring Phenotypes:
100% purple
Test Cross Practice

•In mice, black coats are dominant, and brown coats only
appear in homozygous recessive form.
•You bought a black mouse from the pet store and want to
know if it is pure-bred (homozygous).

•Perform a test cross to show both possible outcomes.

• Remember: ALWAYS cross your dominant unknown with a
homozygous recessive test parent!
Quick Review!
Non-Mendelian Genetics = When Mendel’s
laws do not apply!

p. 587
 Incomplete Dominance
• two equally dominant alleles: neither gene can completely mask the
presence of the other

• heterozygous genotype causes a new phenotype in the offspring that is

different from both parents 🡪 intermediate phenotype

• E.g., flower color in the 4-o’clock plant:

• Red allele = R1 White Allele = R2
• Red flower (R1R1), white flower (R2R2),

???
Incomplete Dominance: Practice Problem
If a red flower is crossed with a white flower, what is the
probability of having pink flowers as offspring?

p. 594
 Codominance
• Two equally dominant alleles cause the phenotype of BOTH
alleles to be expressed.

• Example: Roan cows and horses

• Red allele = HR White allele = HW
• Cow hair color (phenotype):
• red (HRHR), white (HWHW), roan (HRHW)
 Codominance: Practice Problem
If a red cow is mated with a
white cow,
what is the probability that
their calf is roan?

http://medicalhumour.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/heterozygoats.png?w=914
Incomplete dominance
versus codominance
• Incomplete dominance:
heterozygous flower (R1R2) has
pink petals

• Codominance: heterozygous
flower (HRHW) plant has red
petals AND white petals
Real Life Example:
Incomplete Dominance and
Codominance:
Sickle Cell Anemia
• a genetic condition that affects
hemoglobin

• HbA: allele that encodes for normal

hemoglobin

• HbS: allele that encodes for sickle

cell anemia hemoglobin

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sickle_cells.jpg
FYI: Sickle Cell
Anemia
• at low oxygen conditions, sickle
cell anemia hemoglobin form
crystals that distort red blood
cell shape making it difficult for
blood to pass through
capillaries

• causes vessel blockages, pain

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sickle_cell_01.jpg
 Genotype Hemoglobin (protein Phenotype =
inside red blood cells) INCOMPLETE
Incomplete = CODOMINANCE DOMINANCE
Dominance and
HbAHbA All normal Normal red
Codominance: Sickle blood cells
Cell Anemia HbSHbS All abnormal Sickle-cell
anemia
HbAHbS 50% normal “Sickle-cell trait”
50% abnormal = halfway
between normal
and sickle cell
anemia
 Sickle cell anemia and the “heterozygous
advantage”
• Heterozygous individuals are said to have the sickle cell trait
• Only some of their blood cells become sickle cell shaped, so they
rarely experience any symptoms.
• (codominance)
Transmitted by female
• In addition, they have increased resistance to malaria! Anopheles mosquitoes
• (incomplete dominance)

Distribution of malaria % of population with at least 1 allele

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Malaria_versus_sickle-cell_trait_distributions.png
 Sickle Cell Anemia: Practice Problems
1. If two people who are
heterozygous for sickle cell
anemia hemoglobin have a child,
what is the probability their child
will have full sickle cell anemia?

2. What is the
probability their child will
have increased resistance
to malaria (but not full sickle cell
anemia)?
Sex Determination in
Mammals
• males fully express all alleles on
their single X chromosome
(dominant or recessive)
• most cases of recessive traits
encoded on X occur in males
• color blindness, hemophilia, and
certain types of muscular
dystrophy.
Sex-linked Inheritance – Amoeba Sisters
•The first gene to be mapped to a chromosome was white eye
color gene in fruit flies (Thomas Hunt Morgan).
o gene was on the X chromosome.

•Sex-linked traits: traits controlled by genes on either the X or

Y chromosome (not both)
Sex-linked Inheritance

p. 601
Sex-linked Inheritance Practice
• Colour blindness is an X-linked
recessive trait.
• What will be the expected
phenotypes of the children born to a
true breeding woman with normal
vision crossed to a colour-blind
man?
Sex-Linked Inheritance Practice
• What will be the
expected phenotypes of children
born to a heterozygous woman
crossed to a man with normal
vision?
 •NOTE: Not all sex-linked
genes (disorders)
are recessive!

IMPORTANT!!!
•NOTE: If a question
discusses an “sex-linked
gene,” assume it is on X
chromosome unless
you are told otherwise
25
More sex-linked practice
Non-vitamin D-related rickets are caused by a sex-linked dominant
disorder. What is the probability a man with this disorder’s sons and
daughters will be born with the disorder if:
a. their mother is homozygous for non-vitamin D-related rickets
b. their mother is heterozygous for non-vitamin D-related rickets
c. their mother is homozygous “normal”

26
Man has disorder with Man has disorder with
Woman homozygous for Woman heterozygous for
disorder disorder
Man has disorder with Woman
homozygous "normal"
Y-linked inheritance
• In humans and most other mammals, Y chromosomes are only
present in males.
• Y-linked traits are only passed from fathers to sons.
• Females can not be a carrier of a Y-linked trait (no Y chromosome).
• Hairy pinna gene is on the Y chromosome! =)

http://ambassadors.net/archives/images/earhair.jpg
 Multiple Alleles: ABO
Blood Typing in Humans
• multiple alleles AND codominance
• A gene with more than two alleles has
MULTIPLE ALLELES.
• In humans, ABO blood type is determined by
one gene (I) that determines one of the types
of glycoprotein on the surface of RBCs.
• The I gene has 3 possible alleles: IA, IB, i
• IA and IB are CODOMINANT with each other
and i is recessive.
 Human ABO Blood Group Amoeba Sisters

Phenotype RBCs with

Genotype Antibodies Receives Donates
glycoproteins

A IAIA or IAi B A or O A or AB

B IBIB or IBi A B or O B or AB

AB, A,
A B
AB I I Neither B, O AB
(universal)

O,AB,
O ii Both O A,B
(universal)
FYI: ABO and Rh Blood Type
Frequencies in Canada
(Source: Canadian Blood Services)

ABO
Rh Type % of Total Population
Type
O positive 39%
46%
O negative 7%
A positive 36%
42%
A negative 6%
B positive 7.6%
9%
B negative 1.4%
AB positive 2.5%
3%
AB negative 0.5%
ABO Blood Typing Practice Problems
1. A woman with blood type AB marries a man with type O.
They have eight children. How many would be expected to
be type A? Will this necessarily be the case?

2. A woman with type B has a child with type O. What is the

child’s genotype? What is the mother’s genotype? What
genotypes could the father NOT have?

33
Type AB x Type O mom Type B and kid with Type O

ii
What about the Rh factor (+/-)?
• Another blood grouping is the Rhesus gene which codes for another
antigen on your red blood cells.
• Rh + means you HAVE the antigen (so you will recognize it)
• Rh – means you do NOT HAVE the antigen (so your immune system will attack
it)
• The only way for a person to be phenotypically negative is if they are
homozygous.
 FYI - Other Examples of Multiple Alleles
•Coat color in rabbits – Gene
has 4 alleles:
• Agouti (C)
• Chinchilla (cch)
• Himalyan (ch)
• Albino (c)

•The order of dominance is:

C > cch > ch > c
Polygenic Inheritance: Eye Colour

• When one trait is controlled by 2 or more genes, that trait is known

as a polygenic trait. The group of genes that contribute to the trait
are known as a polygene.
• dominant alleles contribute to the trait, recessive alleles do not
contribute to the trait.
• often encode continuous traits: traits in which phenotypes vary
gradually from one extreme to another (E.g., eye colour, height)
Mother EGGS
AB Ab aB ab
AaBb black dark brown dark brown light brown

AB
AABB AABb AaBB AaBb
dark brown light brown light brown blue

Ab
Father
SPERM

AAbB AAbb AabB Aabb

dark brown light brown light brown blue
AaBb
aB
aABB aABb aaBB aaBb
light brown blue blue light blue

ab
aAbB aAbb aabB aabb
Polygenic
inheritance
 Genes and the Environment
•Environmental conditions often affect the expression of a trait.
•For example, gene expression can be controlled by temperature!
•Himalayan rabbits or Siamese cats show this pattern:
•More pigment is produced in the cooler areas of the body: nose
and face, ears, tail and feet
• The dark version of the gene is only active below a certain temperature!
NOTE: They are all born
WHITE!
What you should be able to do:
• Identify if a genetics problem is using incomplete dominance,
codominance, multiple alleles and sex-linked traits.
• interpret patterns and trends of inheritance of traits and predict,
quantitatively, the probability of inheritance of traits illustrated in
monohybrid, and sex-linked inheritance, using pedigrees and Punnett
squares
• explain the relationship between variability and the number of genes
controlling a trait; e.g., one pair of genes, as for Rh factor, versus two
or more pairs of genes, as for skin colour and height
• Understand and interpret a test cross