In the coin sex lab, we flipped coins to show the probability of the phenotype of an offspring. The coins demonstrated the probability of a child inheriting their parents' genes. In the dihybrid cross, two individuals were both double heterozygous. The dominant alleles were brown hair (B) and brown eyes (E). The recessive alleles were blonde hair (b) and blue eyes (e). Meiosis is the process of making gametes in testes or ovaries. There were two different possibilities for meiosis. By completing the Punnett Square, I found that the expected outcome was 9 offspring with brown hair and brown eyes, 3 offspring with brown hair and blue eyes, 3 offspring with blonde hair and brown eyes, and 1 offspring with blonde hair and blue eyes. After flipping the coins and collecting my data, I found that Punnett Square is an accurate representation in predicting the phenotype of an offspring. I got 9 offspring with brown hair and brown eyes, 3 offspring with brown hair and blue eyes, 3 offspring with blonde hair and brown eyes, and 1 offspring with blonde hair and blue eyes when flipping the coins.
The autosomal dominance lab determined the probability of having a bipolar offspring if one parent is heterozygous for the trait and the other parent is homozygous and does not have the trait. The Punnett Square was a monohybrid of Bb x bb, where B is the bipolar allele and b is the normal allele. I predicted that 50% of the offspring would have the bipolar disorder. After flipping the coins and collecting the data, I came to the conclusion that 4 offspring had bipolar disorder, and 6 were normal. Although the Punnett Square was not a completely accurate representation of my results, the Punnett Square was pretty close to accurate.
In the X-Linked Recessive part of the lab, the female was a carrier of colorblindness, and the male had normal color vision. The Punnett Square was a monohybrid of X^B X^b by X^B Y. Through recombination, the alleles from each parent combined. One offspring was colorblind, and the other nine offspring were normal. When using probability to predict an offspring's traits, a person cannot assume what traits an offspring can have. Instead, they can predict the likelihood of a trait being dominant.
This unit was about the cell cycle, asexual vs. sexual reproduction, meiosis, Punnett Squares, Mendel's Sex Laws, and genetic exceptions and complications. The cell cycle has three steps: interphase, mitosis, and cytokinesis. In interphase, DNA is copied. Mitosis is the process in which DNA and organelles are split up. Cells divide into two cells during cytokinesis.
Asexual reproduction requires one parent. The offspring is genetically identical. Asexual reproduction is easy, takes a short amount of time, does not need a mate, and can make a lot of offspring. Asexual reproduction has no genetic variation, is not resistant to change. The offspring of asexual reproduction are more likely to go extinct if their environment changes. Sexual reproduction requires two parents, and each parent contributes half of offspring's DNA through sperm or egg. Sexual reproduction creates genetic variation, and new traits arise in the population. The costs of sexual reproduction requires a lot of time.
Sex is determined by a pair of sex chromosomes. Homologus chromosomes are chromosomes that come in pairs, in which one there is one copy from each parent. Sex cells are called gametes. Males produce sperm, while females produce egg. Haploid cells are sex cells that have half of the chromosomes. All body cells are diploid, meaning that cells have two copies of every chromosome. Asexual reproduction always produces diploid cells.
Meiosis is the process of making gametes in testes or ovaries. There are four stages in meiosis, but the cell divides twice, meaning that a cell goes through the four stages two times. The four stages are: prophase, metaphase, anaphase, and telophase. The process of meiosis 1 splits homologus chromosomes. Meiosis 2 splits sister chromatids.
A trait is a characteristic. A gene is a piece of DNA that gives an organism its trait. Gregor Mendel experimented with pea plants and mated peas to observe their traits. He discovered that traits are determined by two copies of a gene. Some versions of a gene are dominant over the others. A genotype is the alleles that an organism has. A phenotype is the physical trait that results due to an organism's traits. Individuals that have the same two alleles are called homozygous. Individuals with two different alleles are heterozygous.
The Law of Segregation, a principle introduced by Mendel, states that the gene pairs of a trait separate where gametes are formed because of meiosis. The Law of Independent Assortment states that gene pairs separate independently, or randomly, from each other during meiosis. The Punnett Square predicts possible genotypes of gametes.
Autosomal inheritance is the process in which an organism inherits the gene responsible for a trait from all the 22 autosomes. X-Linked inheritance is when an organism inherits the gene responsible for a trait from the x-chromosome.
Incomplete dominance happens when neither allele is dominant nor completely recessive. Both alleles will both be completely expressed in codominance. In other words, codominance has both phenotypes. Codominant alleles are neither dominant nor recessive.
Because chromosomes have many genes, the closer they are together, the more likely they are to be inherited together through gene linkage. In epistasis, one gene alters the phenotype of another gene. Multifunctional disorders are disorders where an environment affects genetics. Most humans are polygenic because they have two or more genes to determine their phenotype.
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This unit was very fun because I really liked learning about Punnett Squares and how they can determine the probability of an offspring having a specific genotype. I struggled to understand the difference between meiosis and mitosis so I did some extra research. I understood how some versions of alleles could be dominant over others, but I had a difficult time figuring out how codominance works. In my opinion, the infographic helped me get a better understanding of the main concepts from this unit. I definitely feel that I am a better student than I was yesterday because I have expanded my knowledge in biology. I would like to know more about the works that Mendel did to influence the world of biology today. Picture of my infographic: https://magic.piktochart.com/output/17955851-genetics
