You examine a worm that has two genders: males that produce sperm and hermaphrodites that produce both sperm and eggs.The diploid adult has four homologous pairs of chromosomes that undergo very little recombination.Given a choice, the hermaphrodites prefer to mate with males, but just to annoy the worm, you pluck a hermaphrodite out of the wild and fertilize its eggs with its own sperm.Assuming that all the resulting offspring are viable, what fraction do you expect to be genetically identical to the parent worm? Assume that each chromosome in the original hermaphrodite is genetically distinct from its homolog.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Since the hermaphrodite is self-fertilizing, the offspring will be genetically identical to the parent only if they inherit the same set of chromosomes. With four pairs of chromosomes, the probability of inheriting the same set is (1/2)^4 = 1/16.

You Examine a Worm That Has Two Genders: Males That