Sodium benzoate is a bitter chemical often used in tiny amounts as a food preservative. The ability of humans to taste sodium benzoate is caused by a dominant allele, t. The recessive allele ("non-taster") is n. What are the genotypes of a "taster" and what are the genotypes of a "non-taster"?
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In the context of tasting sodium benzoate, if the ability to taste it is determined by a dominant allele "t" and the recessive allele "n" represents the non-taster trait, the genotypes for a "taster" and a "non-taster" would be as follows:
- Taster: The genotype of an individual who can taste sodium benzoate would be either homozygous dominant (tt) or heterozygous (Tt), where the presence of at least one dominant allele "t" results in the ability to taste sodium benzoate.
- Non-taster: A non-taster, lacking the ability to taste sodium benzoate, would have a homozygous recessive genotype (nn), meaning both alleles are the recessive "n" allele.
To recap:
- Taster: Genotypes could be tt (homozygous dominant) or Tt (heterozygous).
- Non-taster: Genotype would be nn (homozygous recessive).