The Punnett Square, named after the British geneticist Reginald C. Punnett, is a tool that allows us, based on the genetic information of two parental organisms, to predict the genotypes and phenotypes of their offspring. With the help of the Punnett Square Generator that we present here, you will be able to take advantage of this wonderful genetic analysis tool.
To use the online Punnett Square Generator you must follow these steps:
Select the Number of Allele Pairs:
In the "Number of Allele Pairs" section, select a value between 1 and 5 by clicking the desired number. By default, the value is set to 2.
Enter Genotype for Parents:
Fill in the genotype fields:
Parent 1: Enter the genotype for the first parent (e.g., AaBb).
Parent 2: Enter the genotype for the second parent (e.g., AaBb).
(Optional) List Dominant Alleles:
In the "List Dominant Alleles (optional)" field, specify the dominant alleles (e.g., AB).
Choose How to Display Allele Frequency:
Select one of the following options:
Genotype: Display frequencies by genotype (default).
Phenotype: Display frequencies by phenotype.
Calculate Results:
Click the "Calculate" button. A panel will appear showing both the Punnett Square and the Frequency Table.
View Results:
Use the tabs in the panel to switch between:
Punnett Square: View the generated Punnett Square.
Frequency Table: View the frequency table for alleles.
Download Results:
In the "Punnett Square" tab, click the "Download" button to save the results as a file.
Reset the Form:
Click the "Reset" button to clear all fields and start over.
After explaining how to use the punnet square calculator, below we present the basic theoretical concepts related to the Punnett Square, so that you have all the necessary elements to understand in depth the great potential that this wonderful genetic prediction tool offers us.
The set of observable characteristics of an individual, taking into account its morphology, physiology and behavior, is called the phenotype. An individual's phenotype not only refers to observable characteristics, but also groups molecules and structures such as RNA and proteins produced as encoded by genes; which is called the "molecular phenotype".
What is a genotype?
Before giving the definition of genotype, we must know what a gene is. A gene is a piece of DNA that contains the information necessary to determine a trait. Put more simply, a gene determines a trait. For each gene located on a chromosome there will be another located on the homologous chromosome, in the same place, which will carry information for the same character: These genes are called alleles. The information that the allele genes have can be the same or it can be different.
Knowing what genes are, we will now explain the concept of genotype. The genotype concept refers to the set of genes that, when expressed, determine the characteristic or trait of the individual. In other words, a genotype is a classification of the type of variant present at a given location (ie locus) in the genome.
Punnett square definition
The Punnett Square is a grid-like diagram used to predict the outcome of a particular cross or breeding experiment.
This tool helps display all possible gamete allelic combinations in a cross of parents with known genotypes to predict the probability that their offspring will possess certain sets of alleles.
In the Punnett square, uppercase letters are used to represent dominant alleles and lowercase letters to represent recessive alleles. Thanks to this, it is very easy to observe how the alleles are inherited or transmitted to the offspring of the parents.
How to do Punnett Squares
To make Punnett squares you must follow these steps:
Step 1: Identify the genotypes of the parent organisms. If you are currently studying genetics, you will notice that on many occasions the statements of the exercises already specify which are the genotypes of each parent. For example, if the statement of the exercise says something like "The crossing of two parents with the following genotype: Aa and aa", you would already have the genotypes clearly identified. On other occasions it is necessary to know how to interpret the information provided in the statement, as for example in the following statement: «The crossing of a short pea plant with one that is heterozygous for height». To identify the genotypes we must know that heterozygous always means one of each letter, so we would use “Aa” (where “A” = tall and “a” = short). The only way for a pea plant to be short is when it has two lowercase "a", so the short-statured parent is "aa." Thus having the intersection Aa x aa. Another example of genotype identification will be done by taking chickens as study subjects. Brown is dominant (B) and white is recessive (b). Let us try to identify the genotypes from the following statement: "Predict the offspring from a cross of a white chicken and a brown chicken if the mother of the brown chicken was white." The only way for the white chicken to be white (the recessive trait) is if its genotype is homozygous recessive (2 small letters), so the white chicken is "bb". Now, the brown chicken's genotype could be "BB" or "Bb." If his mom was white (bb), then this brown hamster must have inherited a little "b" from his mom. So the brown in our cross is "Bb" (not "BB"), and our chicken cross is: Bb x bb.
Step 2: Write the formula for the match you want to evaluate with the Punnett square. The formula for the chicken cross presented above is Bb x bb.
Step 3: Draw a grid. Then divide the letters of the genotype for each parent and place them on the left side for one parent and on the top side for the other parent, as shown in the image below:
Step 4: Determine the possible genotypes of the offspring. To do this we will fill the grid with all possible combinations. You can assign a color to each of the combinations to make it easier to identify the frequency of occurrence of each combination. The following figure shows an example of this:
Step 5: Interpret the results obtained. In the case of our example we have that if we carry out an analysis of the phenotypes we would have that 50% of the chickens descending from this crossing would be brown and the other 50% would be white. But if we carry out the analysis based on the genotypes, we would say that 50% of the descendants will present the Aa genotype and the other 50% will present the aa genotype.
We recommend you practice with the punnett square calculator so that you fully understand the steps explained above.
