Question

A pea plant with purple flowers, when crossed with a plant with white, produced 50 plants with only purple flowers. On selfing these plants produced 482 plants with purple flower and 162 with white flowers. Explain the pattern of inheritance with the help of Punnet square.

Answer 1

Purple flowers have a dominant gene over their white counterparts. When two pure types are crossed, the F1 generation produces solely purple flowers, while selfing produces blooms in a 3:1 ratio.

This finding is due to allele segregation during gametogenesis. The alleles remain together in a zygote, but separate during gamete development, resulting in gametes carrying just one allele.