Mosquitoes can have bigger or smaller body sizes. Two parents that have medium-sized bodies have offspring. One of their offspring has a small body, and one has a large body. How did the offspring end up with traits that are different from the traits of their parents? How did the gene combinations result in these traits?
The offspring can have traits that are different from their parents due to a process called genetic recombination. During the formation of reproductive cells (gametes) in the parents, their genetic material goes through a process called meiosis, which shuffles the chromosomes and mixes up genetic information. This results in the offspring receiving a combination of genes from both parents.
In the case of the mosquitoes with medium-sized bodies, they likely possess genes for both smaller and larger body sizes. During the formation of the offspring's gametes, the genetic material from both parents undergoes recombination, resulting in different combinations of genes being passed onto the offspring.
For example, let's say the gene for smaller body size is represented by 'A' and the gene for larger body size is represented by 'B'. The parents would have the genotype AB, indicating one copy of the gene A and one copy of the gene B. When forming gametes, the genetic material gets shuffled, resulting in possible combinations like AB, AB, AB, or BB.
If the offspring ends up receiving the combination AB, it would have a medium-sized body like its parents. However, if it receives the combination BB, it would inherit two copies of the gene for large body size, resulting in a large body. Conversely, if it receives the combination AA, it would inherit two copies of the gene for small body size, resulting in a small body.
Therefore, through genetic recombination during meiosis, the offspring can end up with different combinations of genes compared to their parents, resulting in variations in body size.