A) A case came before People\'s Court. Mr. and Mrs. Smith (names have been chang

Question

A) A case came before People's Court. Mr. and Mrs. Smith (names have been changed to protect the innocent!) had a baby girl named Samantha. Their next-door neighbor, Mr. Jones, filed a suit to gain custody of Samantha, claiming the baby was his. Blood tests were conducted with the following results:

Samantha: type O

Mr. Smith: type AB

Mrs. Smith: type B

Mr. Jones: type A

You are the judge. How would you rule? Explain your answer completely.

B) How would you rule if the blood types had come out as follows? Explain your answer completely.

Samantha: type AB
Mr. Smith: type AB

Mrs. Smith: type B

Mr. Jones: type A

Genotype Phenotype IAIA or IAi type A blood IBIB or IBi type B blood IAIB type AB blood ii type O blood

Explanation / Answer

Answer A

Let us assume two situations

Situation 1. Mr and Mrs Smith are the parents of Samantha. The genotypes of the two will be IAIB and IBIB (or IBi), respectively.

Let us use IBi notation for Mrs. Smith since Samantha has ii genotye which is actually asked to varify in the question. The offsprings will be like the following Punnet square.

Situation 2. Instead Mr Jones and Mrs Smith are the parents of Samantha. The genotypes of the two will be IAiand IBi, respectively. The offsprings will be like the following Punnet square.

ii

It is now clear from the Punnet square 2 that Samantha could be the child of Mr. Jones and Mrs. Smith.

Thus, the case would be in favor of Mr. Jones and his claim for Samantha's custody is right.

Punnet square1 IAIB IAi IBIB IBi

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