LS

Question

Is it possible for two tall pea plants to produce a short pea plant variety? Explain.
No, two true breeding tall plants will only produce tall offspring.
Yes, it is possible for plants to produce offspring with traits different from their own.
Yes, the offspring of two true breeding tall plants are always short.
No, one parent must be a short plant for any of the offspring to be short.

Answer 1

The correct answer is: No, one parent must be a short plant for any of the offspring to be short.

In pea plants, the trait for tallness (T) is typically dominant over the trait for shortness (t). If both parent plants are true breeding tall plants (TT), they can only produce offspring that are also tall (TT) since they do not carry the short allele (t). For any offspring to exhibit the short phenotype, at least one parent must contribute the recessive short allele (t), which can only occur if one of the parents is a short plant (tt) or a heterozygous tall plant (Tt). Therefore, two true breeding tall plants cannot produce a short plant.