during an experiment, a scientist crosses a pea plant that has purple flowers with a pea plant that has…

during an experiment, a scientist crosses a pea plant that has purple flowers with a pea plant that has white flowers. the plants that result from this cross in the f₁ generation have both purple and white flowers. what can the scientist conclude? white flowers are dominant over purple flowers. neither purple flowers nor white flowers are dominant. the plants in the p generation were not true - breeding. all the plants in the f₂ generation will have purple flowers.

during an experiment, a scientist crosses a pea plant that has purple flowers with a pea plant that has white flowers. the plants that result from this cross in the f₁ generation have both purple and white flowers. what can the scientist conclude? white flowers are dominant over purple flowers. neither purple flowers nor white flowers are dominant. the plants in the p generation were not true - breeding. all the plants in the f₂ generation will have purple flowers.

Answer

Brief Explanations:

  • If one trait was dominant (e.g., if white was dominant over purple), in a simple Mendelian cross, we would expect only the dominant - trait (white) to show in the (F_1) generation if the parents were pure - breeding. But since both purple and white flowers are present in (F_1), it is not a case of simple dominance.
  • If the plants in the (P) generation were true - breeding (homozygous) for a simple dominant - recessive trait, we would not get both phenotypes in (F_1). But the fact that both phenotypes are present in (F_1) does not necessarily mean the (P) generation plants were not true - breeding. It could be a case of codominance or incomplete dominance (where neither trait is dominant in the traditional Mendelian sense).
  • Saying all plants in (F_2) will have purple flowers is incorrect as we have no basis for this claim from the (F_1) result (both purple and white in (F_1)).

Answer:

Neither purple flowers nor white flowers are dominant.