A pepper plant is heterozygous for a mutant allele of the gene encoding the CaSGR enzyme (one allele is wild type and the other is mutant). The mutant allele differs from the wild type one in that it lacks a large part of the promoter sequence. Predict the following & briefly explain each prediction.

Question

A pepper plant is heterozygous for a mutant allele of the gene encoding the CaSGR enzyme (one allele is wild type and the other is mutant). The mutant allele differs from the wild type one in that it lacks a large part of the promoter sequence. Predict the following & briefly explain each prediction.

What is the genotype of this plant and will it make any CaSGR enzyme? if so, will it be functional?

Answer 1

Yes and yes. Normal transcription will take place of the normal allele.

The amount of wild type of CaSGR enzyme in the plant compared to the amount in a homozygous wild type plant will depend on the regulation of the gene. You would expect the heterozygote to produce less CaSGR enzyme than the normal plant, but this might not be the case. If the gene is well-regulated and isn't being transcribed all the time anyway, your heterozygote might produce as much CaSGR as the normal plant.