Video Transcript
The diagram shows how Mendel
combined genetic material from a plant that produced yellow seeds with a plant that
produced green seeds. He observed that all the plants
produced only yellow seeds. What term can be used to describe
the trait of yellow seeds? (A) Recessive, (B) visible, (C)
dominant, (D) active, (E) assertive.
This question asks about
experiments conducted by Gregor Mendel who is considered the father of genetics. In the 1800s, he studied how traits
were inherited from parents to offspring. Traits are variations in
characteristics.
In this diagram, the characteristic
of seed color has two different traits, yellow or green. The plants in this diagram are
reproduced by cross-pollination. This means that two different
plants produce these offspring, as opposed to a single plant being
self-pollinated.
The parent plants have either the
yellow color seed trait or the green color seed trait. One of these traits is usually
dominant to the other, which means that when inherited, it is always expressed. This is why the offspring all have
the yellow seed color trait, because the yellow seed color trait is dominant.
The green seed color, on the other
hand, is said to be recessive. This is because it is masked by the
dominant yellow seed color trait. And that’s why none of the
offspring are displaying the green seed color trait.
So if we go back to this question,
the term that can be used to describe the trait of yellow seeds is correctly given
by answer choice (C), dominant.
