A heterozygous white-fruited squash plant is crossed with a yellow-fruited plant, yielding 200 seeds. Does the data support or not support the hypothesis?
Hypothesis: White is autosomal dominant to yellow. Of these, 110 produce white-fruited plants while only 90 produce yellow-fruited plants.
Hypothesis: White is autosomal dominant to yellow. Of these, 110 produce white-fruited plants while only 90 produce yellow-fruited plants.
1 Answer
The data "supports" the hypothesis. (The data fails to reject the hypothesis.)
Explanation:
For this problem, I will use W to refer to an allele for white fruit, and w to refer to an allele for yellow fruit. Per our hypothesis, we're assuming that W (white) is dominant to w (yellow). Thus, using a standard Punnett square, we can get a feeling for what a single crossing of a heterozygous white-fruited plant (Ww) should be with a yellow-fruited plant (ww, since we're assuming W is dominant):
From this, we would expect there to be
To perform the
where
A
Since our
Therefore, we can say that the data seem to support the hypothesis. (Actually, I'd feel more comfortable saying that the data do not support rejecting the hypothesis, but that's just me.)