In a pedigree chart, if a type AB father and a type O mother have four children, how many of them can be expected to have type A blood?

Prepare for the AAB Medical Technologist (MT) Generalist Exam with flashcards and multiple choice questions. Each question includes hints and explanations to boost your understanding. Get exam-ready now!

To determine the expected number of children with type A blood from a type AB father and a type O mother, it's important to understand the inheritance patterns of ABO blood types. The father, having type AB blood, has the genotypes IAIB, while the mother, with type O blood, has the genotype ii.

The possible combinations of alleles from these parents would be:

  • From the father (AB): IA or IB

  • From the mother (O): i

The potential genotypes for their children would therefore be:

  1. IAi (which gives type A blood)

  2. IBi (which gives type B blood)

Since the father can pass on either the IA or IB allele and the mother can only pass on the i allele, the children will have either type A (from IAi) or type B (from IBi) blood.

Thus, 50% of the children are expected to have type A blood. With four children, it is reasonable to expect that about two of them (50% of four) will have type A blood. This expectation aligns with the principles of basic genetic inheritance, making "2" the correct answer to the question regarding how many of the children can be expected to have type A

Subscribe

Get the latest from Examzify

You can unsubscribe at any time. Read our privacy policy