Genetics and Inheritance Worksheet

The father rabbit had long ears while the mother rabbit had short ears. Which of these statements explains why one of the baby bunnies could have long ears?

• The baby bunny inherited its copies of the gene for ear length from its father and not from its mother. Those genes connect together to make its ears long.

• The baby bunny inherited its copies of the gene for ear length from its father and not from its mother. Just like its father’s genes, those genes instruct for proteins that connect in ways that make its ears long.

• The baby bunny inherited one copy of the gene for ear length from its father and one copy from its mother. That gene combination instructs for proteins that connect in ways that make long ears.

• The baby bunny inherited one copy of the gene for ear length from its father and one copy from its mother. Those genes connect together to make its long ears.

A shark pup has a pointed fin. Its mother also had a pointed fin, but its father had a rounded fin. Which of these statements explains why the shark pup has a pointed fin?

• The shark pup inherited one copy of the gene for fin shape from its mother and one copy from its father. That gene combination instructs for proteins that connect in ways that make its fin pointed.

• The shark pup inherited one copy of the gene for fin shape from its mother and one copy from its father. Those genes connect together to make its fin pointed.

• The shark pup inherited its copies of the gene for fin shape from its mother and not from its father. Those genes connect together to make its fin pointed.

• The shark pup inherited its copies of the gene for fin shape from its mother and not from its father. Just like its mother’s genes, those genes instruct for proteins that connect in ways that make its fin pointed.

Two parakeets have different parents. They each have different proteins in their cells for beak thickness. What can you say about the parakeets' beak thicknesses?

• They will have the same beak thicknesses since all parakeets have the same beak thickness.

• They will have the same beak thicknesses because even with different proteins for beak thickness, the proteins can connect in the same way.

• They will have different beak thicknesses since offspring from different parents will have different beak thicknesses.

• They will have different beak thicknesses since their proteins for beak thickness are different so the proteins will connect in different ways.

A father pig has a curly tail while the mother pig has a straight tail. Which of these statements explains why one of their piglets could have a curly tail?

• The piglet inherited its copies of the gene for tail shape from its father and not from its mother. Just like its father's genes, those genes instruct for proteins that connect in ways that make its tail curly.

• The piglet inherited its copies of the gene for tail shape from its father and not from its mother. Those genes connect together to make its tail curly.

• The piglet inherited one copy of the gene for tail shape from its father and one copy from its mother. Those genes connect together to make its tail curly.

• The piglet inherited one copy of the gene for tail shape from its father and one copy from its mother. That gene combination instructs for proteins that connect in ways that make its tail curly.

The wing cells of a bird have proteins that connect together. In one bird, the structure of the proteins in the wing cells changed, but the amount of that type of protein in the cell stayed the same. What happened to the function of that type of protein?

• The amount of that type of protein stayed the same, so its function doesn’t change.

• The changed protein connects differently, but its function doesn’t change.

• The changed protein connects differently, so its function changes.

• The changed protein connects the same, but its function changes.

Thomas is studying a family of spiders that have poisonous skin, and finds one spider with a mutation for that poison feature. Which of these statements about the spiders with a mutation is true?

• There will be no change to the spider’s poison

• The spider must be more poisonous than other spiders

• The spider must be less poisonous than other spiders

• There must have been a change in the spider’s genes.

How did the offspring of two crawfish with medium length antennae end up with one having short antennae and one having long antennae?

Puppies were born in the same litter to the same parents, but they have different traits for the feature of toenail thickness. One puppy has thick toenails, one has thin toenails, and the third has medium toenails. How did these puppies end up with toenail thicknesses that are different from one another even though they have the same parents? How did the gene combinations result in the different traits?

This is a live oak tree, which can grow 40 to 80 feet tall.

This is a coconut palm tree, which can grow 60 to 80 feet tall.

Find one trait these two trees pass on to their offspring.

• tree height

• tree fungus

• tree decay

Genes always appear in pairs. Each parent donates ________ allele for every trait.

• 1

• 2

• 23

• 46