Question

A botanist came across a species of plant that has two varieties of flower color: purple and white. The botanist wanted to complete several genetic crosses to determine the relationship between the two alleles. Upon crossing the different plants, the greatest majority of them were purple.

Given this information, select the statements that accurately reflect conclusions that can be made about the alleles for this trait.


A plant that has purple flowers can still carry an unexpressed allele for white flowers.


In order for a plant to have purple flowers, it must inherit the allele for purple flowers from both parents.


The allele for purple flowers is dominant to the allele for white flowers.


The allele for white flowers is dominant to the allele for purple flowers.


In order for a plant to have white flowers, it must inherit the allele for white flowers from both parents.

Answer 1

Correct choices: 1, 3, and 5.

Reasoning:
- If purple is dominant (3), most offspring being purple fits. A purple plant can be heterozygous (Pp), carrying an unexpressed white allele (1). White shows only when the plant is homozygous for the white allele (pp), meaning it must inherit a white allele from both parents (5). Statements 2 and 4 are incorrect.