Question

Which factors changed throughout the experiment? Check all that apply.


the trait examined, fur color

the organism, mice

which allele was dominant and which allele was recessive

the genes of the parental mice

other aspects of the mice

fur color of the offspring

Answer 1

I don’t have the details of the specific procedure you ran, but in a typical Mendelian fur‑color breeding experiment the things that actually change are:

- the genes of the parental mice (if you set up different crosses with different parental genotypes)
- the fur color of the offspring (the variable you observe as a result of the crosses)

The following do NOT change (or should not change) during the experiment:
- the trait examined (you kept studying fur color)
- the organism (mice)
- which allele is dominant vs. recessive (that is a fixed relationship for the alleles used)
- other aspects of the mice (these should be held constant as controls)

If your lab only used one parental genotype for all crosses, then only the offspring fur color varied. If you changed parental genotypes between crosses, then both parental genes and offspring fur color changed. If you want a definitive answer for your specific experiment, tell me what crosses you performed.