The Impact of Genotype and Phenotype on Squirrel Coat Color, You are a squirrel breeder (you must be nuts), and you have the following genotypes of two independent genes which determine coat color. A_B_ gray; A_bb = red; aaB_ = black; aabb = yellow. A third gene (D) deposits color in the coat and the recessive mutant (d) does not deposit color and creates albinos. Show a possible genotype and phenotype of the parents who produced them.

The Impact of Genotype and Phenotype on Squirrel Coat Color

Genotype and phenotype play an important role in determining the color of a squirrel’s coat. To illustrate this, consider two independent genes (A and B) which, when combined, can result in four different coat colors: gray (A_B_), red (A_bb), black (aaB_), and yellow (aabb). Furthermore, a third gene (D) deposits color in the coat, while the recessive mutant (d) does not, creating an albino squirrel. An example of a possible genotype and phenotype of the parents who produced them could be A_B_Dd x aabbDd, with the resulting offspring being gray, red, black, and yellow squirrels. The interaction of genotype and phenotype can be seen through Mendel’s laws of inheritance (Meyer & Peters, 2020). According to these laws, genotype is determined by the combination of two alleles that an organism inherits from its parents (O’Reilly & O’Reilly, 2019). Phenotype, on the other hand, is determined by the observable characteristics of the organism (O’Reilly & O’Reilly, 2019). In the case of squirrels, the alleles they possess will determine the phenotype of their coat color. Cont….