The wild-type (normal) fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, has st...

Question

The wild-type (normal) fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, has straight wings and long bristles. Mutant strains have been isolated that have either curled wings or short bristles. The genes representing these two mutant traits are located on separate chromosomes. Carefully examine the data from the following five crosses.

Identify each mutation as either dominant or recessive. In each case, indicate which crosses support your answer.

Accepted Answer

Everyone. Let's take a look at this practice problem. Together the mutation that happens in the parents reproductive cells which alters the genetic material received by the Children is called. So the question is asking what type of mutation occurs in parental reproductive cells and alters genetic material. So let's take a look at our options. We have a somatic mutation. So the prefix soma means all parts of an organism except its reproductive cells. So a somatic mutation occurs in any cell except the parents reproductive cells. So we can eliminate option A. Let's take a look at C induced mutation. So induced which means influenced by something. So induced mutation would be a mutation that has triggered or influenced by something and not a type of mutation that occurs in reproductive cells. So we can eliminate option C. Option D spontaneous mutation is just that spontaneous and it occurs to an organism's genome, not the reproductive cells. So we can eliminate option D. As well. Finally, let's look at B. Germline mutation Now recall that reproductive cells are also known as germline cells. So we can think of a germline mutation as a reproductive cell mutation and this is the type of mutation we were looking for. So B is going to be our correct answer. Alright, everyone. I hope you found this helpful. And I'll see you for the next practice problem

Key Concepts

Dominant and Recessive Traits

Dihybrid Crosses

Chromosomal Location of Genes

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