Question

Individual A has the dominant phenotype and Individual B has the recessive phenotype. They produce an offspring with the recessive phenotype. What is the genotype of Individual A?

Answer 1

The genotype of individual A is heterozygous, with one dominant allele and one recessive allele.

Explanation:

The only way individual A with the dominant phenotype and individual B with the recessive phenotype can have an offspring with the recessive phenotype, is for individual A to have the heterozygous genotype.

The Punnett square below shows the probabilities for the offspring when heterozygous (Cc) individual A is crossed with homozygous recessive (cc) individual B.

The probability of having an offspring with the recessive genotype and recessive phenotype is 1/2 or 50%.