High School

Select the correct answer from each drop-down menu.

1. If a heterozygous male with the genotype Ww is mated with a homozygous recessive female of genotype ww, there is a chance that [tex]$\square$[/tex] of the offspring will be heterozygous.

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

2. If the heterozygous, Ww, is crossed with a homozygous dominant, WW, then the probability of having a homozygous recessive offspring is [tex]$\square$[/tex].

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

Answer :

Let's tackle the problem step by step:

1. Crossing a Heterozygous Male with a Homozygous Recessive Female:

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

We can use a Punnett square to determine the potential genotypes of their offspring:

```
| | W | w |
|---|-----|-----|
| w | Ww | ww |
| w | Ww | ww |
```

From the Punnett square, we can see the possible genotypes of the offspring:
- Two boxes (Ww) represent heterozygous offspring.
- Two boxes (ww) represent homozygous recessive offspring.

So, there is a chance that 2 out of the 4 possible combinations will result in heterozygous offspring. This means 50% or 0.5 of the offspring will be heterozygous.

2. Crossing a Heterozygous Individual (WW) with a Homozygous Dominant (WW):

- WW indicates the genotype where both alleles are dominant.
- Since both parents have the genes WW, their offspring's possible genotypes are determined as follows:

```
| | W | W |
|---|-----|-----|
| W | WW | WW |
| W | WW | WW |
```

Here, all possible combinations (WW) are homozygous dominant. There are no homozygous recessive (ww) combinations possible from this cross.

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

In conclusion, when a heterozygous male (Ww) mates with a homozygous recessive female (ww), 50% of the offspring will be heterozygous (Ww). Similarly, when a homozygous dominant individual (WW) is crossed with another homozygous dominant (WW), there is a 0% chance of producing homozygous recessive offspring.