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Difficulty: EasyGenetics and Heredity

A pea plant has the heterozygous genotype TtTt, where TT represents the dominant allele for purple flowers and tt represents the recessive allele for white flowers. What color flowers will this plant produce?

  1. A
    White flowers
  2. Purple flowersAnswer
  3. C
    Light pink flowers
  4. D
    Striped purple and white flowers

Answer

The plant will produce purple flowers because the presence of the dominant allele masks the recessive allele.
In a heterozygous individual (TtTt), the dominant allele (TT) masks the expression of the recessive allele (tt). Because TT codes for purple flowers, the plant exhibits the dominant purple flower phenotype.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the alleles present in the genotype TtTt.
The plant carries one dominant allele (TT for purple flowers) and one recessive allele (tt for white flowers).
Determining the allele combination is required to deduce which trait will be physically expressed.
2
Apply the law of dominance.
The dominant allele (TT) is expressed, and the recessive allele (tt) remains unexpressed in the phenotype.
In complete dominance, an organism with at least one dominant allele will display the dominant phenotype.

Key Concept

Dominant and Recessive Alleles in Mendelian Inheritance
Estimated Time:45s
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Topics

Genetics and Heredity

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