Question

problem #2
there is a mix - up in the hospital. baby a with blood type o has been mixed up with baby b with heterozygous b blood. the doctors and nurses need your help. george and martha mcfarland have the blood types ab and heterozygous b. larry and mary clary have heterozygous a and heterozygous b blood. do punnett squares for both sets of parents and determine which baby belongs with which parents underneath the punnett squares.

Explanation:

Step1: Set up alleles

Let \(I^A\), \(I^B\) and \(i\) be the alleles for blood - type A, B and O respectively. George has blood type AB (\(I^A I^B\)) and Martha has heterozygous B blood type (\(I^B i\)).

Step2: Create Punnett - square for George and Martha

	\(I^A\)	\(I^B\)
\(i\)	\(I^A i\)	\(I^B i\)

Possible blood types of their children are AB (\(I^A I^B\)), B (\(I^B I^B\), \(I^B i\)) and A (\(I^A i\)). They cannot have a child with blood type O.

Step3: Set up alleles for Larry and Mary

Larry has heterozygous A blood type (\(I^A i\)) and Mary has heterozygous B blood type (\(I^B i\)).

Step4: Create Punnett - square for Larry and Mary

	\(I^A\)	\(i\)
\(i\)	\(I^A i\)	\(ii\)

Possible blood types of their children are AB (\(I^A I^B\)), A (\(I^A i\)), B (\(I^B i\)) and O (\(ii\)).

Answer:

Baby A (blood type O) belongs to Larry and Mary Clary. Baby B (heterozygous B blood type) belongs to George and Martha McFarland.