Question

the hairs in a jaguar’s coat are colored by molecules called pigments. the pigments are made in cells at the base of each hair. when these cells make light pigments, the hair is light - colored. when these cells make dark pigments, the hair is black. a protein called mcr1 controls how the jaguar’s cells color each hair with light and dark pigments. the function of the mcr1 protein results in jaguars with spotted coats, made up of both light - colored and black hairs. the mcr1 protein is encoded by the mcr1 gene. a certain jaguar had a solid black coat because of a mutation in its mcr1 gene. compared to the mcr1 gene without a mutation, the mutated mcr1 gene encoded a form of the mcr1 protein with a different structure. this different form of the mcr1 protein allowed only dark pigments to color the hairs. complete the sentence. the mutation caused the mcr1 gene to encode a form of the mcr1 protein that allowed only dark pigments to color the jaguar’s hairs. so, the jaguar had ______. a spotted coat a black coat

Explanation:

The text states that when cells make dark pigments, the hair is black. A jaguar with a solid black coat had a mutation in its MCR1 gene. The mutated MCR1 gene encoded a form of the MCR1 protein that allowed only dark pigments to color the hairs. So, this would result in a black - coated jaguar as all the hairs are colored by dark pigments. A spotted coat would require both light - colored and black hairs, which is not the case here as only dark pigments are allowed.

Answer:

a black coat