The dominant white allele (W) is a homozygous lethal and is dominant over the full-color allele (w) in horses. The Overo paint allele (O) is also lethal when homozygous, and it is dominant over the nonpaint allele (o). The dominant at the white locus, however, masks the paint phenotype. Two horses of the genotype WwOo are crossed. At what frequency is a solid white horse expected from the this cross?
Explain
In this genetic scenario involving horse coat color, we have two genes at play: one for white color (Ww) and another for the Overo paint pattern (Oo). It's important to note that both the dominant white allele (W) and the Overo paint allele (O) are lethal when they are homozygous (WW or OO), which means having two copies of either of these alleles is lethal to the horse.
Now, let's analyze the given cross between two horses with the genotype WwOo:
- Parent 1: WwOo
- Parent 2: WwOo
When these two horses are crossed, we can set up a Punnett square to determine the possible genotypes of their offspring:
Ww Wo
Ow WWOO WWOo
Ow WWOO WWOo
In the Punnett square, we can see the possible combinations of alleles in their offspring. None of the offspring can have the homozygous lethal combinations (WW or OO) because they each inherit one dominant and one recessive allele for both genes. So, there won't be any solid white horses (WW) or homozygous Overo paint horses (OO) among their offspring.
Therefore, in this cross, there are no solid white horses expected among the offspring because the homozygous dominant white allele (WW) is lethal, and the presence of at least one dominant white allele (Ww) masks the paint phenotype.
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