Activities

1. Name the Austrian monk who studied the genetic paths of pea plants.
   
   
2. Which one of Gregor Mendel’s laws of inheritance states that some alleles are stronger and can cover weaker alleles?
   
   
3. Which one of Gregor Mendel’s laws of inheritance takes into account when genes are separated while forming gametes?
   
   
4. At least three genes are involved in the red eye color of fruit flies. What type of inheritance does this represent?

5. Give an example of independent assortment.
   
   
6. Why is a fruit fly an ideal organism for the study of inheritance?

7. Parakeets are birds that come in four colors: white, green, blue, and yellow. How many alleles might there be for feather color? Explain your reasoning.
   
   
8. Design an experiment to determine whether the brown color of hamsters results from incomplete dominance. Explain what the results would tell you.

Answer Key/Rubric

1. Gregor Mendel
   
   
2. The Law of Dominance
   
   
3. The Law of Segregation
   
   
4. Polygenic

5. Acceptable answers include but are not limited to:

• When there are two parents that have the same phenotype and then their offspring have children that have 3 different types of phenotypes.

6. Acceptable answers include but are not limited to:
   They are (have):

• Cheap
• Small
• Easy to care for
• Easily visible traits
• Short life span
• Short gestation period

7. Acceptable answers include but are not limited to:

• I believe there might be 3 alleles for color including white (or no color) yellow, and blue. Green would not be counted as its own, because it could be a combination of two co-dominant alleles (Yellow and blue).

8. Acceptable answers include but are not limited to:

• I would cross two brown hamsters to see what result I would get in their offspring. If I got white and black offspring along with brown then I would know that the brown is a heterozygous condition in the parents.