Question

Consider the genetic possibilities for a child of parents who are both carriers of sickle cell anemia. What is the probability that the child will be a carrier of sickle cell anemia? (Solve using a Punnett sqaure)

Answer 1

They are carriers of sickle cell anemia, which means that they have a dominant allele and a recessive allele, so their genotype is Ss (where S denotes the dominant allele, and s the recessive variant)

using a Punnet square:


If the child is a carrier, this means he's also heterozygous just like his parents, looking at the square 2 out of 4 possibilities are heterozygous, so the chance that the child is a carrier is \(\frac{2}{4}*100\% = 50\%\)