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Ch. 25 - Quantitative Genetics and Multifactorial Traits
Chapter 24, Problem 24

In a series of crosses between two true-breeding strains of peaches, the F₁ generation was uniform, producing 30-g peaches. The F₂ fruit mass ranges from 38 to 22 g at intervals of 2 g. Using these data, determine the number of polygenic loci involved in the inheritance of peach mass.

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1
Step 1: Understand the problem context. Recognize that the problem involves polygenic inheritance, where multiple genes contribute to a single trait, in this case, peach mass.
Step 2: Identify the phenotypic range in the F₂ generation, which is from 22 g to 38 g, with intervals of 2 g. This suggests a continuous variation typical of polygenic traits.
Step 3: Calculate the total number of phenotypic classes. The range from 22 g to 38 g with 2 g intervals gives us phenotypic classes: 22, 24, 26, 28, 30, 32, 34, 36, 38, totaling 9 classes.
Step 4: Use the formula for the number of phenotypic classes in polygenic inheritance, which is 2n + 1, where n is the number of loci. Set 2n + 1 equal to the number of phenotypic classes (9) to solve for n.
Step 5: Solve the equation 2n + 1 = 9 to find the number of loci (n) involved in the inheritance of peach mass.

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Key Concepts

Here are the essential concepts you must grasp in order to answer the question correctly.

Polygenic Inheritance

Polygenic inheritance refers to the genetic mechanism where multiple genes (loci) contribute to a single trait, resulting in a continuous range of phenotypes. In the case of peach mass, this means that several genes influence the weight of the fruit, leading to variations in the F₂ generation.
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Quantitative Trait Loci (QTL)

Quantitative Trait Loci are specific regions of the genome that correlate with variation in a quantitative trait, such as fruit mass. By analyzing the distribution of phenotypes in the F₂ generation, researchers can estimate the number of QTLs involved in the trait's inheritance.
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Phenotypic Variation and Distribution

Phenotypic variation refers to the observable differences in traits among individuals, which can be measured and analyzed. The range of peach masses from 22 g to 38 g indicates a continuous distribution, suggesting that multiple alleles contribute to the trait, which is a hallmark of polygenic inheritance.
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Related Practice
Textbook Question

A 3-inch plant was crossed with a 15-inch plant, and all F₁ plants were 9 inches. The F₂ plants exhibited a 'normal distribution,' with heights of 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, and 15 inches.

What will be the outcome if the F₁ plants are testcrossed with plants that are homozygous for all nonadditive alleles?

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Textbook Question

In a cross between a strain of large guinea pigs and a strain of small guinea pigs, the F₁ are phenotypically uniform, with an average size about intermediate between that of the two parental strains. Among 1014 F₂ individuals, 3 are about the same size as the small parental strain and 5 are about the same size as the large parental strain. How many gene pairs are involved in the inheritance of size in these strains of guinea pigs?

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Textbook Question

Type A1B brachydactyly (short middle phalanges) is a genetically determined trait that maps to the short arm of chromosome 5 in humans. If you classify individuals as either having or not having brachydactyly, the trait appears to follow a single-locus, incompletely dominant pattern of inheritance. However, if one examines the fingers and toes of affected individuals, one sees a range of expression from extremely short to only slightly short. What might cause such variation in the expression of brachydactyly?

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Textbook Question

In a series of crosses between two true-breeding strains of peaches, the F₁ generation was uniform, producing 30-g peaches. The F₂ fruit mass ranges from 38 to 22 g at intervals of 2 g. Using gene symbols of your choice, give the genotypes of the parents and the F₂.

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Textbook Question

Students in a genetics laboratory began an experiment in an attempt to increase heat tolerance in two strains of Drosophila melanogaster. One strain was trapped from the wild six weeks before the experiment was to begin; the other was obtained from a Drosophila repository at a university laboratory. In which strain would you expect to see the most rapid and extensive response to heat-tolerance selection, and why?

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Textbook Question

Consider a true-breeding plant, AABBCC, crossed with another true-breeding plant, aabbcc, whose resulting offspring are AaBbCc. If you cross the F₁ generation, and independent assortment is operational, the expected fraction of offspring in each phenotypic class is given by the expression N!/M!(N−M)! where N is the total number of alleles (six in this example) and M is the number of uppercase alleles. In a cross of AaBbCc×AaBbCc, what proportion of the offspring would be expected to contain two uppercase alleles?

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