A series of experiments shows that oil content in a diploid

A series of experiments shows that oil content in a diploid grain is influenced by five genes (a through e) with additive alleles. The highest producing strain is 40% oil content; the lowest has close to 10%. A plant of unknown genotype has an oil content of 16%. What is a possible genotype for this plant? (+ = additive alleles) a + abbccddee a + ab + bc + cd + de + e aab + bc + cddee a + a + b + bccddee a + a + b + b + ccddee

Solution

In a polygenic trait, the additive alleles together lead to greater quality of a trait they are influencing. in this scenario, there are total 5 genes with total 10 alleles, if each additive allele contributes 4%, then together the 10 alleles will lead to 40% oil content, therefore, we can choose an option that has 4 additive alleles which would lead to 16%

therefore the correct answer would be :

a+a+b+b+ccddee