1. Soybeans are rich in protein. Raw soybeans, however, may contain a trypsin inhibitor.

This is a chemical
which prevents the digestion of protein. The presence of this trypsin inhibitor is genetically controlled. A
single gene has alleles TA, TB and TC each of which codes for a different sort of trypsin inhibitor. These
alleles are codominant so plant with the genotype TATB will produce two sorts of trypsin inhibitor,
inhibitor A and inhibitor B. A fourth, recessive allele, To does not code for a trypsin inhibitor. This
information is summarised in the table.

Allele Inhibitor produced

TA A

TB B

TC C

To None

(a) The inheritance of trypsin inhibitors in soybeans is an example of multiple allele inheritance.
Explain how multiple allele inheritance differs from polygenic inheritance.

...................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................
(1)

(b) (i) Give all the possible genotypes of a plant which only contains inhibitor A.

...........................................................................................................................
(1)

(ii) Give all the possible genotypes of the gametes produced by a plant which contains
inhibitors B and C.

...........................................................................................................................
(1)

(c) Two soybean plants were crossed and the seeds collected and counted. The results are shown
in the table.

Inhibitors present in seed Number of seeds

A and B 23
A 25
B 48

1
 (i) Complete the genetic diagram to explain the results of this cross.

Phenotypes of parents:.................................. .......................................

Genotypes of parents:.................................. .......................................

Genotypes of gametes ......................................................................................

Genotypes of offspring: ....................................................................................

Phenotypes of offspring Inhibitor A Inhibitor A Inhibitor B

and
Inhibitor B
(3)

(ii) A chi-squared test was applied to the data collected in this investigation. Explain why
statistical tests such as the Chi-squared test should be carried out on data like these.

...........................................................................................................................

...........................................................................................................................

...........................................................................................................................
(2)

2. In cats, one of the genes for coat colour is present only on the X chromosome. This gene has two
alleles. The allele for ginger fur, XB, is dominant to that for black fur, Xb

(a) All the cells in the body of a female mammal carry two X chromosomes. During an early
stage of development one of these becomes inactive and is not expressed. Therefore female
mammals have patches of cells with one X chromosome expressed and patches of cells with
the other X chromosome expressed. Tortoiseshell cats have coats with patches of ginger and
patches of black fur.

(i) What is the genotype of a tortoiseshell cat?

...........................................................................................................................
(1)

(ii) Explain why there are no male tortoiseshell cats.

...........................................................................................................................
(1)

2
 (b) A cat breeder who wished to produce tortoiseshell cats crossed a black female cat with a
ginger male. Complete the genetic diagram and predict the percentage of tortoiseshell kittens
expected from this cross.

Parental phenotypes: black female ginger male

Parental genotypes: ......................... ........................

Gamete genotypes: ......................... ........................

Offspring genotypes: ..................................................................................................

Percentage of tortoiseshell kittens: .............................................................................

(3)
(Total 5 marks)

3. The inheritance of the ABO blood groups is an example of multiple allele inheritance and is
controlled by three alleles of a single gene, IO, IA and IB

These three alleles determine the activity of an enzyme which modifies the structure of an antigen
on the cell surface membrane of the red blood cells. This is summarised below.

I O produces Antigen
inactive enzyme unchanged

I A produces enzyme
Antigen on cell surface which adds acetylgalactosamine Antigen A
membrane to antigen

I B produces enzyme
which adds galactose Antigen B
to antigen

(a) In terms of mutation, explain each of the following statements.

(i) The alleles IA and IB differ at several nucleotide positions but produce enzymes
which are very similar in their structure.
(2)

(ii) The IO allele has a single base deletion and gives rise to an inactive enzyme.
(3)

(b) Briefly explain how a DNA (gene) probe could be used to identify the presence of the 1o
allele in a sample of DNA,
(3)

3
(c) The allele IO is recessive to both alleles IA and IB. Alleles IA and IB are codominant, that is,
they are both expressed in the phenotype.

The diagram shows the inheritance of ABO blood groups in one family.

1 2

3 4 5

B O AB

Female
6 7
Male

(i) Give the blood group genotype or genotypes of the sperm cells produced by individual
2.
(1)

(ii) Give the blood group phenotype of individual 1.

(1)

(iii) Calculate the probability that the next child produced by individuals 4 and 5 will be a
boy with blood group A. Show your working.
(2)

(d) Explain why a person with blood group O:

(i) can safely give blood to someone with blood of any ABO type;
(2)

(ii) can only safely receive blood from someone with blood group O
(2)

(e) (i) In a study of people living in India, the frequency of the IO allele was found to be 0.55
and that of the IA allele, 0.18. What was the frequency of the IB allele in this
population?
(1)

(ii) Smallpox was an extremely severe disease which was particularly common among the
people of the Indian sub-continent. It has been suggested that the smallpox virus had
proteins on its surface which were very similar to the A antigen. Use this information
to suggest why people with blood groups B and O were less likely to develop smallpox
than those with blood groups A and AB.
(3)
(Total 20 marks)

4
5. (a) Explain the meaning of the term gene pool.

.....................................................................................................................................

.....................................................................................................................................

.....................................................................................................................................
(1)

In two-spot ladybirds, the colour of the wing-cases is genetically determined. The allele for red
wing-cases, R, is dominant to that for black wing-cases, r.

(b) In a ladybird with black wing-cases, how many copies of the r allele would you expect to
find in a nucleus taken from a muscle cell in the insect’s leg? Explain your answer.

.....................................................................................................................................

.....................................................................................................................................
(1)
(c) In a population of two-spot ladybirds found on a patch of nettles, 168 had red wing-cases
and 32 had black wing-cases. Showing your working in each case, calculate the frequency
of:

(i) the r allele;

Answer: ............................................
(2)

(ii) the R allele.

Answer: ............................................
(1)
(Total 5 marks)

6. In the flour beetle, the allele for red body colour (R) is dominant to the allele for black body colour
(r). A mixed culture of red beetles and black beetles was kept in a container in the laboratory under
optimal breeding conditions. After one year, there were 149 red beetles and 84 black beetles in the
container.

(a) Use the Hardy-Weinberg equation to calculate the expected percentage of heterozygous red
beetles in this population.

Answer: .............................................. (3)

5
 (b) Several assumptions are made when using the Hardy-Weinberg equation. Give two of these.

1..................................................................................................................................

2..................................................................................................................................
(2)
(Total 5 marks)

7. The diagram shows three generations of a family.

1 2 3 4

5 6 7 8 9

10 11
Key:
Unaffected male

Unaffected female

Affected male

Affected female

No member of the family showed the symptoms of cystic fibrosis (CF) until the son was born in
the third generation. A single gene is responsible for the inheritance of cystic fibrosis.

(a) Assume that no gene mutations have occurred in these generations. Use F for the dominant
allele and f for the recessive allele to give the possible genotype or genotypes of:

individual 7;.................................................................................................................

individual 11................................................................................................................ (2)

8. (a) Greater willow herb is a common plant found in damp places. It usually has red flowers
controlled by the allele R. Plants with the genotype rr, however, have white flowers.
In a sample of plants growing beside a ditch, 17 had white flowers and 327 had red flowers.

(i) Calculate the frequency of the r allele in this sample. Show your working.

Frequency of r allele = .......................................................

(2)

(ii) The Hardy-Weinberg equation could be used to find the frequencies of the different
genotypes in the population from which this sample was taken. Give one assumption
that must be made if the equation is to be applied.

..............................................................................................................................

..............................................................................................................................
(1)
(Total 5 marks)

6
9. In cats, some aspects of the inheritance of fur colour are sex linked. When a ginger male cat was
crossed with a black female, all the female kittens were tortoiseshell (a pattern of black hairs and
ginger hairs) and all the male kittens were black. However, in the reciprocal cross, although all the
female kittens were again tortoiseshell, the male kittens were ginger.

(a) Complete the following genetic diagrams to explain the results of these two crosses.
Use the following symbols:

XB = an X-chromosome carrying an allele for black hair.

XG = an X-chromosome carrying an allele for ginger hair.

Cross 1 Cross 2
Parental phenotypes Ginger x Black Black x Ginger
male female male female

Parental genotypes .......... .......... .......... ..........

Gametes ................... ................... ................... ...................

Offspring genotypes ........................................ ........................................

Offspring phenotypes ....................................... .......................................

....................................... .......................................
(4)

(b) Why were no male tortoiseshell cats produced in these crosses?

.....................................................................................................................................

.....................................................................................................................................
(1)
(Total 5 marks)

10. In tomato plants, the genes for flower colour and for height are on different chromosomes. The
allele for yellow flowers (Y) is dominant to that for white flowers (y) and the allele for tall plants
(T) is dominant to that for dwarf plants (t).

A tall tomato plant with yellow flowers was pollinated with pollen from a dwarf plant with white
flowers. The resulting seeds were planted and grew into plants with the following phenotypes:

Tall, yellow: 63
Dwarf, yellow: 58

(a) (i) To what Mendelian ratio do these results approximate?

.......................................................................................................................... (1)

7
 (ii) Explain why the results of crosses like this only approximate to the expected
Mendelian ratio.

..........................................................................................................................

..........................................................................................................................
(1)

(b) Use a genetic diagram to explain the results of this cross.

(3)
(Total 5 marks)

11. Huntington’s disease is a human inherited condition resulting in gradual degeneration of nerve
cells in the brain. It is caused by a dominant allele but usually no symptoms are evident until the
person is at least 30 years old. It is very rare in most populations. However, in one isolated area in
Venezuela, 48% of the population possess a genotype which gives rise to Huntington’s disease.
Many of the inhabitants of this area can trace their origins back to a common ancestor 200 years
ago.

(a) Use the Hardy-Weinberg equation to estimate the percentage of this Venezuelan population
which is heterozygous for Huntington’s disease. Show your working.

Answer = ....................................... %

12. In humans, cystic fibrosis is caused by a recessive allele, f.

(a) What is an allele?

.....................................................................................................................................

.....................................................................................................................................
(1)
(b) A man and woman are both heterozygous for the cystic fibrosis allele. They have one
healthy son but would like to have another child. ‘What is the probability that they will
produce a girl who has cystic fibrosis? Show your working.

Probability = ..................................... (2)

(Total 3 marks)

8
13. The inheritance of body colour in fruit flies was investigated. Two fruit flies with grey bodies were
crossed. Of the offspring, 152 had grey bodies and 48 had black bodies.

(a) Using suitable symbols, give the genotypes of the parents. Explain your answer.

Genotypes ..................................................................................................................

Explanation ................................................................................................................

.....................................................................................................................................

.....................................................................................................................................
(2)
(b) A species of insect, only found on a remote island, has a characteristic controlled by a pair of
codominant alleles, CM and CN.

(i) What is meant by codominant?

...........................................................................................................................

...........................................................................................................................
(1)

(ii) There were 500 insects in the total population. In this population, 300 insects had the
genotype CM CM, 150 had the genotype CM CN and 50 had the genotype
CN CN. Calculate the actual frequency of the allele CN by using these figures. Show
your working.

Answer ........................................
(2)

(iii) Use your answer to (c) (ii) and the Hardy-Weinberg equation to calculate the number
of insects that would be expected to have the genotype CN CN.

Answer ........................................ (3)

(Total 12 marks)