Name: using test crosses to identify genotypes
Uploaded: 2025-10-23T11:49:30.000Z
Duration: 1 min 39 s
Channel: JoVE

K12 Standards

Virginia  Standards of Learning

HIgh School

Life Science

LS.10

LS.10.c

Test Cross

- [Narrador] Una cruza
de prueba es una técnica

que puede usarse para
determinar el genotipo

de un organismo, expresando
un rasgo dominante,

como, el color purpura en
las flores de una planta

de guisantes.

Porque la versión dominante,
o alelo de un gen,

siempre se expresara
sobre el alelo recesivo,

organismos con el genotipo
homocigoto-dominante,

dos alelos dominantes aparecerán igual

que organismos con el
genotipo heterocigoto,

un alelo dominante.

Una planta de guisantes de flores purpura

de genotipo desconocido,

puede cruzarse con una
planta de guisantes que tiene

el fenotipo recesivo, flores blancas.

Y así se sabe que tiene

el genotipo homocigoto-recesivo,
p pequeña, p pequeña.

En un escenario, si toda la descendencia

de la cruza de prueba,

exhibe el fenotipo dominante,
el padre desconocido

debe ser homocigoto-dominante
para flores purpura.

Toda la descendencia es heterocigoto,

recibiendo un alelo
recesivo del padre recesivo,

y un alelo dominante del otro padre.

Sin embargo, si la descendencia
incluye un numero igual

de organismos exhibiendo
el fenotipo dominante

y organismos exhibiendo
el fenotipo recesivo,

el padre desconocido
debe ser heterocigoto.

Toda la descendencia aun
recibe sus alelos recesivos,

del padre recesivo.

La mitad de la descendencia
recibe un alelo dominante,

del padre heterocigoto,

y exhibe el fenotipo dominante,

mientras que la otra mitad
recibe una segunda copia

del alelo recesivo del padre heterocigoto,

y exhibe el fenotipo recesivo.

Miko, Ilona. 2008. "Cruces de prueba". Educación para la Naturaleza 1 (1): 136. [<a href="https://www.nature.com/scitable/topicpage/test-crosses-585">Fuente</a>]

Reid, James B. y John J. Ross. 2011. "Los genes de Mendel: hacia una caracterización molecular completa" Genética 189 (1): 3–10. [<a href="https://doi.org/10.1534/genetics.111.132118">Fuente</a>]

cruz de prueba

Los alelos son diferentes formas del mismo gen. Los humanos y otros organismos diploides heredan dos alelos de cada gen, uno de cada padre. Un alelo es recesivo si sus efectos están enmascarados por otro alelo en la misma ubicación genética. Por ejemplo, las plantas de guisantes pueden tener flores moradas o blancas. En este caso, las flores blancas son recesivas ya que una sola copia del alelo de las flores moradas dará como resultado una planta con flores moradas, incluso si también tienen el alelo de las flores blancas. Si un organismo exhibe un rasgo recesivo conocido, determinar el genotipo del organismo (su par de alelos heredados) es simple. Sólo un genotipo, pp (dos alelos recesivos), produce flores blancas. Para un organismo con un rasgo dominante, como una planta de guisantes con flores violetas, determinar el genotipo no es tan sencillo. Dos genotipos, PP y Pp, producen flores de color violeta. Los científicos utilizan cruces de prueba para determinar los genotipos de organismos que exhiben rasgos dominantes simples. Un cruce de prueba implica reproducir o cruzar el organismo en cuestión con uno que muestra la contraparte recesiva de su rasgo dominante. En un cruce de prueba para una planta de guisante con flores moradas, la planta se cruza con una planta de guisante que tiene flores blancas (genotipo pp). El color de la flor de la descendencia resultante revela si el padre con flores moradas es homocigoto (PP) o heterocigoto (Pp). Si la planta es homocigota, toda la descendencia heredará uno de sus alelos P dominantes y uno de los alelos p recesivos del otro padre. Dado que los alelos dominantes enmascaran los alelos recesivos, toda la descendencia tendrá flores de color púrpura, el rasgo dominante. Sin embargo, si la planta es heterocigota, alrededor del 50% de la descendencia heredará su alelo p recesivo, junto con otro alelo recesivo del otro progenitor. Por lo tanto, aproximadamente la mitad de la descendencia de este cruce tendrá flores blancas. De esta manera, los cruces de prueba pueden revelar genotipos parentales desconocidos.

Cruz de prueba

Los alelos son formas diferentes del mismo gen. Los seres humanos y otros organismos diploides heredan dos alelos de cada gen, uno de cada progenitor.

Un alelo es ...

Education

Educación

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Biology

Biología

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Genética

Classical and Modern Genetics

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KEY TERMS AND CONCEPTS

TÉRMINOS Y CONCEPTOS CLAVE

using test crosses to identify genotypes

Test crosses are used to identify the genotype of an organism with a dominant trait. A genotype is the pair of alleles inherited for a gene, and alleles are different forms of the same gene. In diploid organisms, including humans, each gene usually has two alleles, one from each parent.

An allele is recessive when its effect is hidden by another allele at the same gene location. Pea plants provide a clear example with flower color. White flowers are recessive, because one copy of the purple allele is enough to make a plant purple, even if it also carries the white allele.

When a trait is recessive, the genotype is easy to determine. For white pea flowers, only one genotype produces the trait: pp, with two recessive alleles. The problem is different for dominant traits, such as purple flowers. Two genotypes, PP and Pp, can both produce purple flowers.

Scientists use a test cross to solve that problem. In this method, the organism with the dominant trait is bred with an organism that shows the recessive version of the same trait. For a purple-flowered pea plant, the cross is made with a white-flowered pea plant with the pp genotype. The offspring then show whether the purple parent is homozygous, meaning PP, or heterozygous, meaning Pp.

The offspring pattern gives the answer. If the purple plant is homozygous, every offspring inherits one dominant P allele and one recessive p allele, so they all have purple flowers. If the purple plant is heterozygous, about half of the offspring inherit the recessive p allele from that parent and become white. In this way, test crosses reveal unknown parental genotypes.

Using Test Crosses to Identify Genotypes

genetic lingo

Genotype, Phenotype, and Inheritance

Genotype, phenotype, and inheritance help explain how traits and disease risk are passed from parents to offspring. In diploid organisms, including humans, most other animals, and many plants, somatic cells carry a duplicate set of chromosomes. These chromosome pairs are homologous, with similar length, centromere position, and gene locations. Diploid organisms inherit two versions of each gene, one from each parent. These versions are called alleles, and they sit at the same relative locus,...

punnett squares

Punnett Squares for Predicting Traits

Punnett squares help predict which traits offspring may inherit from two parents. They show possible genotypes, which are pairs of alleles, and can also show the chance of a phenotype, or visible trait, when the inheritance pattern is known. These grids work best for traits controlled by a single gene locus and passed on independently during meiosis. Punnett squares were developed in the early 1900s by Reginald Punnett. His work came after Gregor Mendel’s pea plant experiments revealed the...

monohybrid crosses

Mendel’s Pea Plant Inheritance Ratios

Gregor Mendel used pea plants to study how traits are passed from parents to offspring. His breeding experiments in the 1850s and 1860s showed that inheritance follows clear patterns. He crossed true-breeding plants that differed in one trait and found that dominant traits can hide recessive traits. Mendel focused on seven pea plant traits, and each trait had two forms controlled by a single gene locus. He noticed that true-breeding plants always produced offspring with the same phenotype, or...

dihybrid crosses

Mendel's Law of Independent Assortment

Mendel’s law of independent assortment explains how two traits can be inherited separately. Gregor Mendel tested this idea with pea plants that differed in two characteristics, such as pea color and pea shape. He used true-breeding parents that were homozygous for both traits but showed different phenotypes. In one example, Mendel crossed round, yellow peas with wrinkled, green peas. The parental generation had RRYY and rryy genotypes. Their first-generation offspring were all dihybrids,...

law of segregation

Mendel’s Pea Cross Ratios

Mendel’s pea plant crosses show how traits can disappear in one generation and return in the next. When he crossed plants, one parental trait sometimes seemed to vanish in the F1 generation and reappear in the F2 generation. Mendel used this pattern to explain why some traits are dominant and others are recessive. He proposed that traits are controlled by alleles, which are different versions of a gene. An organism inherits two copies of each gene, one from each parent. In his model, a...

law of independent assortment

Mendel’s Dihybrid Cross and Trait Ratios

Mendel’s dihybrid cross shows how two traits are inherited at the same time. A dihybrid cross is a cross in which both parents are homozygous for two distinct traits, and the F1 generation is heterozygous for both traits. Mendel used pea plants with round yellow peas and wrinkled green peas as an example. One parent had genotype YYRR, and the other had genotype yyrr. In the F1 generation, every plant showed the dominant traits, so the plants were YyRr and had yellow, round peas. The F2...

probability laws

Inheritance Risk with Sum and Product Rules

Inheritance risk can be calculated with the sum rule and the product rule. The sum rule applies to mutually exclusive events, or events that cannot happen at the same time. The product rule applies to independent events, or events that do not affect one another. These rules describe theoretical probability, which is the chance of an event before it happens. Empirical probability is different because it is based on events that have already occurred. These probability rules are useful in...

test cross

Test crosses are used to identify the genotype of an organism with a dominant trait. A genotype is the pair of alleles inherited for a gene, and alleles are different forms of the same gene. In diploid organisms, including humans, each gene usually has two alleles, one from each parent. An allele is recessive when its effect is hidden by another allele at the same gene location. Pea plants provide a clear example with flower color. White flowers are recessive, because one copy of the purple...

polygenic traits

Polygenic Traits in Human Height

Polygenic traits are traits controlled by more than one gene. Human height is a clear example of this kind of inheritance. Because many genes work together, the final trait can vary a lot from person to person. Researchers have found hundreds of loci, or gene locations, that influence height. There are likely many more that have not yet been identified. Many of these genes affect cartilage in the growth plates of the long bones in the arms and legs, either directly or indirectly. Height is...

pedigree analysis

Reading Family Traits in Pedigrees

Pedigrees are family trees used to track how a trait passes through generations. They help scientists and students see whether a trait is dominant or recessive, whether it is autosomal or sex-linked, what genotypes family members may have, and what phenotypes may appear in future generations. For families with a history of inherited disease, this information can be important for family planning. In plants and animals, inheritance is often studied with crosses. Monohybrid crosses can show...

multiple allele traits

Blood Type and Allele Interactions

Multiple alleles can shape traits through blood type, sickle cell anemia, incomplete dominance, and codominance. Multiple allelism means a gene has three or more allelic forms. Diploid organisms, including humans, usually carry only two alleles for each gene, but many human genes exist in multiple forms in the population. Human blood type is a clear example of multiple allelism. The blood type gene has three alleles: I A , I B , and i. These alleles help determine which blood type a person has...

epistasis

Gene Masking in Rabbit Fur Color

Epistasis describes how one gene can mask or change the effect of another gene. In high school genetics, this helps explain why many traits do not follow a simple single-gene pattern. Instead, alleles at different locations can work together to shape the final phenotype. Mendel studied seven unrelated pea traits, but most traits involve multiple gene interactions. Epistasis often happens when one gene interferes with the expression of another gene. It can also occur when genes are part of the...

nature and nurture

Genes and Environment Shape Height

Genes and environment both shape human height and other traits. Genes are the inherited instructions we get from our parents. Environment includes factors such as diet, stress, and social conditions. Many phenotypes, or observable traits, reflect both influences. Some also show up later in life, including cancer and other diseases. Height is a clear example of this interaction. Scientists estimate that 70-90% of height variation comes from genetic differences among people. The remaining 10-30%...

pleiotropy

SOX10 and Multiple Traits in Pleiotropy

Pleiotropy is when one gene affects more than one trait. The SOX10 gene is a clear example because it can influence pigmentation, hearing, and intestinal movement. These traits may seem unrelated, but they can all be linked to the same gene change. In humans, a deleted region in SOX10 can cause Waardenburg Syndrome Type 4, or WS4. WS4 is an autosomal recessive disorder, which means a person usually inherits two altered copies of the gene. Common signs include a white forelock,...

sex-linked disorders

X- and Y-Linked Disorder Patterns

X- and Y-linked disorders come from mutations in genes on the sex chromosomes. These genes, like those on autosomes, are needed for normal body function. When a mutation causes a biological problem, the condition is called sex-linked. Y-linked disorders come from changes in the Y chromosome. They affect only males, because only males carry a Y chromosome. Mutations in this small chromosome can affect male sexual function and secondary sex characteristics. One example is Y-chromosome...

x-linked traits

X-Linked Inheritance in Families

X-linked inheritance explains how traits on the X chromosome are passed through families. In most mammalian species, females have two X sex chromosomes, while males have one X and one Y. A mutation on one X chromosome may be masked in females by a normal allele on the other X. In males, that same mutation is more likely to show because there is no second normal X to balance it. Traits caused by changes on the X chromosome are called X-linked traits. Color blindness is a well-studied example.

x-inactivation

Barr Bodies and X-Chromosome Balance

Barr bodies and X-chromosome balance help explain how female mammalian cells control gene activity from the X chromosome. The human X chromosome carries far more genes than the Y chromosome. Because males usually have one X chromosome and females have two, females would make twice as many of some proteins without a control system. To prevent that imbalance, female mammalian cells inactivate nearly all the genes on one X chromosome during early embryonic development. The inactive X condenses...

non-nuclear inheritance

Maternal DNA in Mitochondria and Chloroplasts

Maternal DNA in mitochondria and chloroplasts explains how some genes are inherited outside the nucleus. Most DNA is in the nucleus, but mitochondria and chloroplasts in the cell cytoplasm also carry their own DNA and can copy it independently of nuclear DNA. Mitochondria are found in both plant and animal cells. They are called the powerhouses of eukaryotic cells because they break down glucose to make energy for cellular activity. Mitochondrial DNA has about 37 genes, and many help with...

chromosomal theory of inheritance

How Genes Map to Chromosomes

Genes map to chromosomes, and this idea explains how Mendel’s inheritance patterns work. Gregor Mendel published his pea plant breeding results in 1866. He showed that physical traits follow predictable patterns. At the time, scientists did not yet know that genes existed. Mendel used the word "factors" for the hereditary units he studied. The details behind Mendel’s laws of segregation and independent assortment were still unknown for many years. In the late 1800s, better microscopes and...

key terms and concepts

Learn how a test cross uses a recessive partner to reveal whether a dominant trait is homozygous or heterozygous in pea plants.

Using Test Crosses to Identify Genotypes | JoVE K12

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Next Generation Science Standards

High School

heredity-inheritance-and-variation-of-traits

Heredity: Inheritance and Variation of Traits

HS-LS3-1

new-york-state-science-learning-standards

New York State Science Learning Standards

Inheritance and Variation of Traits

HS-LS3-1.

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SC.912.L.16

SC.912.L.16.1

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Using Test Crosses to Identify Genotypes

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