In piranha, fish with large teeth represent the dominant trait. Because the dominant trait masks the recessive trait, in a population of 1,000 piranhas, all with large teeth, we could expect about ________of the next generation of fish to have small teeth.

Question

In piranha, fish with large teeth represent the dominant trait. Because the dominant trait masks the recessive trait, in a population of 1,000 piranhas, all with large teeth, we could expect about ________of the next generation of fish to have small teeth.
Responses
A	0%0%
B	25%25%
C	50%50%
D	100%100%

GPT-4o mini · Answer

In a population of 1,000 piranhas, all with large teeth, it's possible that some of them could be heterozygous (carrying one allele for large teeth and one for small teeth) and some could be homozygous (carrying two alleles for large teeth).

If we assume that the large teeth (dominant trait) allele is represented by "T" and small teeth (recessive trait) by "t", we cannot definitively determine the exact percentage of the next generation with small teeth without knowing the genotype of the current population.

If all individuals in the population are homozygous dominant (TT), then 0% of the next generation would have small teeth.
If the population is made up of 50% homozygous dominant (TT) and 50% heterozygous (Tt), then 25% of the offspring would have small teeth.
The heterozygous individuals (Tt) would produce 50% with large teeth (T and T) and 25% with small teeth (tt).

Considering heterozygous individuals are possible, the most common expected outcome based on Hardy-Weinberg principles would be that approximately 25% of the offspring could have small teeth.

Thus, the best answer given the options is:
B 25%.