In pea plants, the dominant allele for purple flowers is represented by "P," while the recessive allele for white flowers is represented by "p."
From this information, we can draw the following conclusions about phenotype and genotype:
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Phenotypes:
- Any pea plant that has at least one "P" allele (genotypes PP or Pp) will exhibit the purple flower phenotype.
- A pea plant must have the genotype "pp" to exhibit the white flower phenotype.
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Genotypes:
- Phenotype Purple Flowers: This can arise from two possible genotypes:
- Homozygous dominant: PP
- Heterozygous: Pp
- Phenotype White Flowers: This phenotype can only occur with the homozygous recessive genotype:
- Homozygous recessive: pp
- Phenotype Purple Flowers: This can arise from two possible genotypes:
In summary:
- If a pea plant has purple flowers, its genotype could either be PP or Pp.
- If a pea plant has white flowers, its genotype must be pp.
This illustrates the relationship between genotype (the genetic makeup) and phenotype (the observable traits).