Question

Answer the lab question, "What is the effect of the

inheritance of one trait on the inheritance of a
second trait?" with a hypothesis. Remember that
you can either assume that the two genes are
independent or that they are linked. What results
would you expect in either case?
Hypothesis:

Answer 1

If the two genes are independent, then the inheritance of one trait should not have any effect on the inheritance of the second trait. In this case, the inheritance of each trait would be determined by the segregation of alleles for each gene independently of each other.

If the two genes are linked, then the inheritance of one trait should have an effect on the inheritance of the second trait. In this case, the inheritance of the two traits would be determined by the linkage between the genes, which would cause certain combinations of alleles to be inherited together more frequently than others. This would result in non-Mendelian inheritance patterns, such as incomplete linkage or linkage disequilibrium.

Answer 2

Assuming that the two genes are independent, the inheritance of one trait would not have any effect on the inheritance of a second trait. The inheritance of each trait would occur independently, following Mendelian inheritance patterns, and the presence or absence of one trait would not affect the likelihood of inheriting the other trait. In this case, the results would be consistent with the expected 9:3:3:1 ratio in a dihybrid cross. However, if the two genes are linked, the inheritance of one trait would have an effect on the inheritance of a second trait. The two traits would be inherited together more frequently than would be expected by chance, leading to a deviation from the expected Mendelian ratios. In this case, the results would be consistent with the phenomenon of genetic linkage and could be analyzed using methods such as linkage mapping or association analysis.