Question

in pea plants, flowers can be purple (p) or white (p). in a field of peas you count 18 plants with white flowers and 142 with purple flowers. what is the value of \q\?

Explanation:

Step1: Calculate total number of plants

$18 + 142=160$

Step2: Determine frequency of recessive phenotype

The white - flowered plants have the recessive phenotype. The frequency of the recessive phenotype ($q^{2}$) is $\frac{18}{160}=0.1125$.

Step3: Calculate the frequency of the recessive allele ($q$)

$q=\sqrt{q^{2}}=\sqrt{0.1125}\approx0.34$

Answer:

0.34