Question

Homozygous tall (TT) pea plants look the same as heterozygous tall (Tt) pea plants. Formulate a pollination experiment to identify whether a tall pea plant is homozygous or heterozygous. Explain your answer in 2 sentences.(4 points)

Answer 1

To identify whether a tall pea plant (T) is homozygous (TT) or heterozygous (Tt), perform a test cross by pollinating the tall plant with a homozygous recessive plant (tt). If any offspring display the short phenotype (tt), the original tall plant must be heterozygous (Tt); if all offspring are tall, the original plant is homozygous (TT).