Join thousands of students who trust us to help them ace their exams!Watch the first video
Multiple Choice
Consider a woman who is a carrier of a recessive X-linked allele for hemophilia. Which of the following possibilities could explain the presence of the hemophilia allele in her genotype?
A
Either her mother was homozygous dominant or her father had hemophilia.
B
Both her mother and her father had hemophilia.
C
Either her mother was a carrier or her father had a dominant allele.
D
None of the listed responses is correct.
E
Either her mother was a carrier or her father had hemophilia.
Verified step by step guidance
1
Understand that hemophilia is an X-linked recessive disorder, meaning the gene causing hemophilia is located on the X chromosome and is recessive.
Recognize that a woman who is a carrier for an X-linked recessive disorder has one normal allele and one allele for the disorder. Her genotype would be XHXh, where XH is the normal allele and Xh is the hemophilia allele.
Consider the genetic contribution from her parents. Since she is a carrier, she must have inherited the Xh allele from one of her parents.
If her father had hemophilia, he would have the genotype XhY, and he would pass the Xh allele to his daughter, making her a carrier.
Alternatively, if her mother was a carrier (XHXh), she could have passed the Xh allele to her daughter, making her a carrier as well. Therefore, the correct explanation is that either her mother was a carrier or her father had hemophilia.