Ensley's class has been studying how traits are passed on by each generation. She created a Punnett Square based on her parent's eye color.
Which THREE statements BEST explain the role of genes in determining the color of Ensley's eyes?
A
Ensley has received one gene for her eye color from each parent and has a genotype of Bb.
B
Since Ensley has a gene for blue eyes and a gene for brown eyes, she can possibly pass either eye color to her offspring.
C
Ensley's parent will pass on the dominant gene for brown eye color, so that means that all of Ensley's offspring will have brown eyes.
D
Ensley has brown eyes, the dominant trait, because all of the recessive traits from one parent have been suppressed by the dominant traits from the other parent.
E
Ensley's eye color cannot be determined based on the Punnett Square, because she has received a gene for blue eyes from one parent and a gene for brown eyes from the other parent.
B, D, E are the three statements that best explain the role of genes in determining the color of Ensley's eyes.
B: Since Ensley has a gene for blue eyes and a gene for brown eyes, she can possibly pass either eye color to her offspring. This statement highlights the possibility of passing on different eye colors based on the combination of genes Ensley possesses.
D: Ensley has brown eyes, the dominant trait, because all of the recessive traits from one parent have been suppressed by the dominant traits from the other parent. This statement explains how the dominant trait (brown eyes) has overridden the recessive trait (blue eyes) in determining Ensley's eye color.
E: Ensley's eye color cannot be determined based on the Punnett Square because she has received a gene for blue eyes from one parent and a gene for brown eyes from the other parent. This statement acknowledges the fact that the Punnett Square only shows the possible combinations of genes, and the actual expression of eye color in Ensley cannot be determined solely based on this information.