A common trait found in orange tabby cats is the following: being awesome (A) is dominant to being average (a).
A male cat that is homozygous dominant for the A trait is mated with a female cat that is homozygous recessive.
For a cross with four offspring, what is the probability that they will have an offspring who is heterozygous?
out of
The male cat is homozygous dominant for the A trait, so its genotype is AA. The female cat is homozygous recessive, so its genotype is aa.
To determine the probability of their offspring being heterozygous (Aa), we need to perform a Punnett square.
A A
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| | |
a | Aa | Aa |
| | |
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In this Punnett square, all four possible combinations of the male's and female's alleles are shown. Each space represents a 25% chance of occurring.
Out of the four possible offspring, two of them are heterozygous (Aa). Therefore, the probability of having an offspring who is heterozygous is 2 out of 4, which can be simplified to 1 out of 2, or 50%.