Question

You start an emu farm in North Boulder. One of the founding members of your emu flock is an unusual emu with curly feathers and a very short neck. You name him Dan after your beloved genetics professor. After a few generations of allowing Dan, and his offspring, to breed freely, you notice that every emu with curly feathers has a short neck. What could explain this inheritance pattern?

A.Genetic linkage

B.Pleiotropy

C.Codominance

D.All of the above

E.Only two of the above

Answer 1

The inheritance pattern is a clear case of linkage which is complete opposite of Mendel's law of independent assortment.

As according to the question every emu with curly hair has a short neck, it means that gene which controls for curly hair always move with genes of short neck as both characters appear together generation after generation. So these two genes are linked gene and phenomenon is linkage. (Linkage is the tendency of some of the genes to remain together at the time of inheritance ) .

pleiotropy is when one gene show many phenotypes and codominance is when both the alleles express themselves in F1 hybrid which are nowhere related to the above mentioned question.