Question

A new species of plant was discovered, and it is found that the stems occur in both a hairless (H) and hairy (h) variety. To investigate the inheritance patterns of stem hair, a researcher crossed a hairless plant with a hairy one. The result was $13$ hairy plants and $11$ hairless plants.
Based on this information, what must be the genotypes of the parents?

• A. HH x Hh
• B. Hh x Hh
• C. Hh x hh
• D. HH x hh

Answer 1

The correct option is C Hh x hh

The given case is an example of a backcross. Backcross is a crossing of the offspring with one of its parents. This is done to obtain offsprings with a genetic identity which is closer to that of the parent. The phenotype of offsprings obtained from backcross will be 1:1 if cross was made with recessive parent. The phenotype of offsprings obtained from backcross will be dominant trait if cross was made with dominant parent. Hence in the given case, hairless (Hh) offsprings were crossed with hairy (hh) parent and the result was 1:1 ratio of hairy plants (hh) and hairless (Hh) plants.

Thus, the correct answer is option c.