Question

in a group of dachshund dogs, some individuals have rough fur and others have soft fur. in this group, the gene for the fur texture trait has two alleles. the allele for rough fur (f) is dominant over the allele for soft fur (f).
pugsy, a dachshund dog from this group, has soft fur.
based on pugsy’s phenotype for the fur texture trait, which of the following could be pugsy’s genotype for the fur texture gene? select all that apply.
ff ff ff

Explanation:

Step1: Recall Dominant/Recessive Traits

In genetics, a dominant allele (F) masks the recessive allele (f). So, rough fur (dominant) is expressed when genotype is FF or Ff. Soft fur (recessive) is only expressed when genotype is ff (homozygous recessive), since dominant allele would mask recessive if present.

Step2: Analyze Pugsy's Phenotype

Pugsy has soft fur (recessive phenotype). For a recessive phenotype to be expressed, the genotype must have two recessive alleles (ff), because if there was a dominant allele (F), the dominant trait (rough fur) would be seen. So FF (homozygous dominant) and Ff (heterozygous) would show rough fur, not soft.

Step3: Evaluate Given Genotypes

• FF: Shows rough fur (dominant), so not possible for soft fur.
• Ff: Shows rough fur (dominant allele present), so not possible for soft fur.
• ff: Shows soft fur (recessive, no dominant allele to mask), so only ff is valid.

Answer:

Only the genotype \(\boldsymbol{ff}\) is correct. The previously checked FF and Ff are incorrect because they would result in rough fur (dominant phenotype), while Pugsy has soft fur (recessive phenotype), which requires the homozygous recessive genotype \(ff\).