Prelab Information Purpose Explore the law of independent assortment by examining a dihybrid cross in mice.
Time Approximately 45 minutes
Question What is the effect of the inheritance of one trait on the inheritance of a second trait?
Hypothesis If a mouse inherits a particular form of one trait, then the inheritance of the other trait
will not be affected because alleles assort independently.
Summary You will study two traits of mice: fur color and eye color. Throughout the lab:
• B represents the dominant allele for fur color (black fur).
• b represents the recessive allele for fur color (white fur).
• E represents the dominant allele for eye color (black eyes).
• e represents the recessive allele for eye color (red eyes).
Variables Independent variable: inheritance of the first trait
Dependent variable: inheritance of a second trait.