A plantlike organism on the planet Pandora can have three recessive genetic traits: bluish leaves, due to an allele (a) of gene A; a feathered stem, due to an allele (b) of gene B; and hollow roots due to an allele (c) of gene C. The three genes are linked and recombine as follows:
A geneticist did a testcross with an organism that had been found to be heterozygous for the three recessive traits and she was able to identify progeny of the following phenotypic distribution (+ = wild type): (See Image)
What is the greatest benefit of having used a testcross for this experiment?
A) The homozygous recessive parents are obvious to the naked eye.
B) The homozygous parents are the only ones whose crossovers make a difference.
C) Progeny can be scored by their phenotypes alone.
D) All of the progeny will be heterozygous.
E) The homozygous recessive parents will be unable to cross over.
The greatest distance among the three genes is between a and c. What does this mean?
A) Gene a is closest to b.
B) Genes are in the order: a–b–c.
C) Gene a is not recombining with c.
D) Gene a is between b and c.
E) Distance a–b is equal to distance a–c.
