Try it on paper first. A hint, the key idea and the worked solution are here when you need them.
A man of blood group A marries a woman of blood group B. Their first child has blood group O. The ABO blood groups are controlled by the gene I, with the three alleles , and .
Have you tried it?
Work it out on paper first. It is fine to get stuck or make a mistake: that is how we learn. When you are ready, go through the solution one step at a time, and check each step against your own.
The parents. The child of group O is , so each parent carries . The man is and the woman is .
(a) The children. gives , , and , each with a chance of : genotypes, and they are four different blood groups, AB, A, B and O.
(b) Group AB. Only : a chance of . Each child is a new event, so the first child's group does not change this.
(c) Two children of group O. .
(d) Different from both parents. The parents are A and B. Children of group AB or O differ from both: .
(e) The population. Three alleles can be put together two at a time in ways: , , , , and . These give blood groups: A, B, AB and O.
Answer: (a) genotypes. (b) . (c) . (d) . (e) genotypes and blood groups.
Check. The four chances in (a) add to : . Of the six population genotypes, two give group A, two give group B, one gives AB and one gives O: four groups in all.
Watch out. A single person carries only two of the three alleles. Multiple alleles show up only when the whole population is studied.
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