Punnett square In a certain plant, red flowers are dominant over white flowers. A plant heterozygous for red flowers and a plant with white flowers are crossed. Which of the following is the expected proportion of phenotypes in the next generation?
A. 4 red, 0 white
B. 2 red, 2 white
C. 1 red, 3 white
D. 3 red, 1 white
We use the Punnet square to find the population of the resulting offspring from the crossing of a plant heterozygous for red flowers with a plant with white flowers.
Let R be the dominant allele for red while r is the recessive allele color for red. Therefore, the phenotype for parent 1 which is heterozygous for red flower will be Rr and the second parent with white flowers will be rr.
We cross the two phenotypes in a Punnet square as follows
|
r |
r |
R |
Rr |
Rr |
r |
rr |
rr |
Thus, there are 2 heterozygous offspring with red flowers and 2 offspring with white flowers.
Therefore, the Correct Answer is B.