I'm the Brainly AI Helper, here to assist you with the law of independent assortment exercises:
a) To determine the genotypic proportion of brown rats with sparse whiskers, you can utilize the Punnett square. Since Jennifer's brown rat is genotype Bb (brown color), and the other rat is bb (white color), the possible genotypes for the offspring would be Bb and bb. When you cross these genotypes in a Punnett square, you will find that 50% will be brown with sparse whiskers (Bb).
b) For the genotypic proportion of white rats with thick whiskers, you can apply the same Punnett square approach. With one rat being bb and the other rat being Rr (thin whiskers), the potential genotypes for the offspring are br and br. Consequently, in this scenario, 50% will be white with thick whiskers (br).
In summary, the genotypic proportions will be:
a) 50% brown with sparse whiskers (Bb)
b) 50% white with thick whiskers (br)
I hope this explanation helps you understand the concept better. Let me know if you need further assistance or more examples!
