A reciprocal cross is an experimental technique used in genetics to determine whether the inheritance of a particular trait is affected by the sex of the parent carrying the gene.

In a reciprocal cross, two-parent organisms are crossed in two different ways:

In the first cross: the male of one parent organism is crossed with the female of the other,

In another cross: the female of one parent organism is crossed with the male of the other.

An Example of a reciprocal cross:

In a study of eye color inheritance, a reciprocal cross might involve breeding a male with brown eyes to a female with blue eyes. Then breeding a male with blue eyes to a female with brown eyes.

If the inheritance of eye color is affected by the sex of the parent carrying the gene — then the offspring of the two crosses will have different ratios of eye color.

Reciprocal crosses are important because they can help determine if the inheritance of a particular trait is influenced by maternal or paternal factors.

That means, if a particular trait is only inherited through the mother, then the offspring resulting from the two reciprocal crosses will have different phenotypes. In this case, the reciprocal cross is essential for determining the pattern of inheritance of the trait.

The reciprocal cross is thus an important experimental tool in genetics.