Try it on paper first. A hint, the key idea and the worked solution are here when you need them.
Take human skin colour to be controlled by three genes, A, B and C. The dominant alleles A, B and C each add the same amount of dark colour, and the recessive alleles a, b and c add none, so the colour depends only on the number of dominant alleles. Two people, both AaBbCc, have children. Ignore the effect of the environment.
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 combinations. Each AaBbCc parent makes kinds of gametes in equal numbers, so there are equally likely combinations. Each of a child's six alleles is dominant with a chance of .
(a) Darkest. Only AABBCC, with all six alleles dominant: .
(b) Classes. A child can have or dominant alleles, so there are skin colours, from the lightest (aabbcc) to the darkest.
(c) Like the parents. The parents have three dominant alleles each. Three of the six alleles can be chosen in ways, so of the children share this intermediate colour. It is the commonest class.
(d) Genotypes. Each gene gives three genotypes (for example AA, Aa and aa), so the three genes give genotypes.
(e) At least five dominant alleles. Five dominant alleles: ways; six: way. .
Answer: (a) . (b) classes. (c) . (d) genotypes. (e) .
Check. The numbers of combinations in the seven classes are and , which add up to .
Watch out. Different genotypes can give the same colour: AaBbCc, AABbcc and aaBBCc all have three dominant alleles. That is why there are genotypes but only colours.
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