In the example of snapdragons, which of the following explains the presence of pink flowers in the F1 generation?

The presence of pink flowers in the F1 generation of snapdragons is best explained by incomplete dominance. In this genetic scenario, neither of the two alleles for flower color (let’s say red and white) is completely dominant over the other. Instead, when a plant with one allele for red flowers is crossed with a plant with one allele for white flowers, the resulting offspring exhibit an intermediate phenotype—in this case, pink flowers.

This blending of traits occurs because the alleles produce a mixture of the two colors rather than one dominating the other. Therefore, the phenotype of the heterozygous F1 generation is distinctly different from the phenotypes of the homozygous parents. In contrast, codominance would result in both colors being expressed simultaneously, leading to a red and white flower pattern rather than a single pink color. Complete dominance would show one phenotype completely overriding the other, resulting only in red or white and not an intermediate pink. Epistasis involves interactions between different genes rather than variations of the same gene, which does not apply to this situation. Hence, incomplete dominance correctly describes the pink flowers observed in the F1 generation of snapdragons.