Question

What is the primary purpose of performing a test cross in genetics?

Options

• To create new mutations in the organism being studied

• To introduce desirable traits from one breeding line into another

• To determine whether a dominant phenotype individual is homozygous or heterozygous

• To produce all dominant offspring in the F₁ generation

Answer 1

A test cross is specifically designed to determine the genotype of an individual showing a dominant phenotype by crossing it with a homozygous recessive individual. The resulting offspring phenotype ratios reveal whether the dominant parent was homozygous (TT) or heterozygous (Tt).