Cats have a gene that codes for the color of their fur.
Suppose that a certain breed of cat can have black, gray, or white fur. Black fur is dominant, white fur is recessive, and gray fur is intermediate (i.e., cats with gray fur possess one allele for black fur and one for white fur).
If a gray cat and a white cat have kittens, what phenotypes could the kittens exhibit?
A.
gray or white fur
B.
black, gray, or white fur
C.
black or white fur
D.
only gray fur
The correct answer is B.
Black, gray, or white fur.
This is because the gray cat has one allele for black fur and one allele for white fur, while the white cat has two alleles for white fur. When they reproduce, the kittens can inherit either the black allele or the white allele from the gray cat, and they will always inherit the white allele from the white cat. Therefore, the kittens can have black, gray, or white fur, exhibiting all three phenotypes.