A Mendelian experiment consisted of breeding tall pea plants bearing violet flowers with short pea plants bearing white flowers. The progeny all bore violet flowers, but almost half of them were short. This suggested that the genetic make  up (or genotype) of the tall parent can be depicted as:(a) TTWW    (b) TTww    (c) TtWW    (d) TtWwGive reason for your choice.

Correct Answer: (c) TtWW

Explanation:

As mentioned in the question, tall pea plants bearing violet flowers are crossed with short pea plants bearing white flowers.

This shows a dihybrid cross involving two characteristics of the same plant.

(i) Height of the plant: Tall (T) and short (t)

(ii) Color of the flower: Violet (W) and white (w)

As the progeny, bore violet flowers, the plants possess a genotype of WW (because W is dominant over white) and almost half of the progeny were short, thus the plant possess a genotype of Tt (as T denotes tallness and t denotes shortness). Tt denotes phenotype of tallness, thus the parent will possess character.