College

If a heterozygous male with the genotype Ww is mated with a homozygous recessive female of genotype ww, there is a 50% chance that the offspring will be heterozygous.

[tex]
\[
\begin{tabular}{|c|c|c|}
\hline
& W & w \\
\hline
w & Ww & ww \\
\hline
w & Ww & ww \\
\hline
\end{tabular}
\]
[/tex]

If a heterozygous, Ww, is crossed with a homozygous dominant, WW, then the probability of having a homozygous recessive offspring is 0%.

[tex]
\[
\begin{tabular}{|c|c|c|}
\hline
& W & W \\
\hline
W & WW & WW \\
\hline
W & WW & WW \\
\hline
\end{tabular}
\]
[/tex]

Answer :

To solve this question, we need to look at two genetic crosses:

1. Cross between a heterozygous male Ww and a homozygous recessive female ww:

- The male has genotype Ww, meaning he has one dominant allele (W) and one recessive allele (w).
- The female has genotype ww, meaning she has two recessive alleles.

We can use a Punnett square to determine the possible genotypes of the offspring.

- The male can pass on either a W or a w allele.
- The female can only pass on a w allele since she is homozygous recessive.

Possible combinations are:
- W from male and w from female gives Ww (heterozygous)
- w from male and w from female gives ww (homozygous recessive)

Filling out the Punnett square gives us:
- Ww, Ww, ww, ww

There are 4 possible outcomes:
- 2 of them are Ww (heterozygous)
- 2 of them are ww (homozygous recessive)

So, the probability of producing a heterozygous offspring (Ww) is 2 out of 4, which equals 50%.

2. Cross between a homozygous dominant WW with another homozygous dominant WW:

- Both parents have genotype WW, meaning they have two dominant alleles.

Since both can only pass on a W allele because they are homozygous dominant, all offspring will have genotype WW.

There are no ww (homozygous recessive) offspring possible in this cross.

Therefore, the probability of having a homozygous recessive offspring is 0%.

In summary, for the first cross, there's a 50% chance of producing a heterozygous (Ww) offspring, and for the second cross, there is a 0% probability of having a homozygous recessive (ww) offspring.