There is a teacher from Texas that loves hairless guinea pigs. In guinea pigs, the dominant allele H codes for the trait of having hair and the allele h codes for the trait of being hairless. Let’s say that this teacher receives her wish of finding a hairless guinea pig at a pet store and names her Genevieve. She finds another guinea pig at a store with hair that she names Fred. While she can be certain of Genevieve’s genotype, how could she determine what genotype Fred is? She can do a test cross! A test cross involves breeding an organism with a dominant trait with an organism that exhibits a recessive trait.
1. Genevieve has the genotype _____.
2. Fred’s genotype could be _____ or _____.
2. Explain in your own words how the offspring from the test cross could help determine Fred’s genotype.
3. What could be some weaknesses with using a test cross to determine Fred’s genotype?
