Week 4 Reflection: Pedigrees and Family Tree

This week in science we learned about pedigrees and family trees. A pedigree is a family tree that shows the genotypes of family members. By looking at a pedigree, you can determine the genotype of all family members by knowing only one or two genotypes. In a pedigree there are different symbols that represent gender, whether the person has or does not have the trait, and in x-linked cases if the female is a carrier. Typically on a pedigree, females are represented by circles and males are represented by squares. If the figure representing a person is shaded in they have the trait and if it is not they do not have the trait. In the case that the pedigree shows a x-linked trait a female's figure could be half shaded in meaning that the female is a carrier of the trait or disease. Each pedigree shows one trait, whether it is autosomal recessive, autosomal dominant, x-linked recessive, or x-linked dominant. Autosomal dominant is shown as two dominant alleles or one dominant and one recessive allele (AA or Aa), autosomal recessive is shown as two recessive alleles (aa), and x-linked is shown by the two alleles connected to the x chromosomes. Not only can you determine genotypes with a pedigree, but you can also determine whether a pedigree is showing an autosomal recessive, autosomal dominant, or x-linked trait by just using the figures and what they represent.

https://migrc.org/Library/AutosomalRecessive.gif

Week 3-4 Reflection

http://www.perunamaa.net/donrosa/intro_long.shtml

For the weeks of January 21st - January 31st, I learned about Pedigrees and Family Tree. The different shapes in the pedigree represent gender, Circle =  Female and Square = Male. The shapes are also shaded or not, representing carrying the trait = shaded, and not carrying the trait = unshaded. In sex linked traits men either have the trait or they don't because of their Y chromosome. Unlike females that can have the trait, be carriers, or not have the trait. Although, in not sex linked traits males and females can be carriers, have the trait, and not have the trait. If either gender is a carrier then the shape is half shaded. In Family Trees, it can show a family members lineage as far back as they can remember. We began a project using websites to document our family trees. You can put in a lot of information such as age, dead or alive, current or former spouses, and other things. Family Trees are genealogical trees.

Week 3/4 Reflection

This week I learned about pedigrees, and how to create a family tree. Pedigrees show the different types of traits that can be passed on through generations. In pedigrees different shapes and colors represent gender and traits. Circles are females, and squares are males. If the person has the trait, their shape is shaded in. If the person does not carry the trait, their shape is not shaded in. Females can only be carriers of the trait if it's sex linked, so their shape would be half shaded. Males can't be carriers of sex linked traits because of their Y chromosome. Family trees are diagrams showing the relationships between people throughout generations. In biology, for a project, we created a family tree online, showing the generations of our families. You can include the name, age, and location where they live on the website. You can also add if they are currently living, or if they have passed. The website also allows you to add peoples current or former spouses. As shown in the image below, is a pedigree chart.

http://faculty.ucc.edu/biology-atsma/pics/pedigree.gif

Week 2 Reflection

This week I learned about Mendelian Genetics.  Gregor Mendel was a monk who studied genetics by using pea plants.  He used punnett squares to figure out which traits the offspring of two "parents' would have.  This week, I learned about dominant and recessive traits, as well as homogeneous and heterogeneous.  I learned that genotype is the collection of genes and alleles in an organism, and a phenotype is the observable characteristics of an organisms.  I also learned how to do monohybrid and dihybrid crosses.  They were pretty difficult.  On thursday, Anna and I created a "child".  We had to use dominant and recessive traits to determine the genotype and phenotype of our "child".  Our child's phenotypes were oval face, star eyes, straight hair, thick smile, curved ears, downward nose, green skin, blue eyes, long hair, freckles, yellow nose, and teal ears.

Our "Child"

                                           

Week 2 Reflection

A photo taken by me from my phone

Our "child" got her traits by my partner and I flipping a coin to get our genotype.
(A photo taken by me from my phone)

This week I learned about genetics. I learned new vocabulary such as genotype, and phenotype. Genotype is the collection of genes (and alleles) in an organism. It's also the genetic items you cannot see. Phenotype is the observable properties of an organism. It is the observable physical characteristics. I learned about recessive, and dominant traits, along with heterozygous, and homozygous traits. I learned how to do monohybrid crosses, and dihybrid crosses. This week I learned about incomplete dominance, and codominance. In a lab, my partner, Mea and I, made a "child" using traits and characteristics involving our homozygous dominant, heterozygous, and homozygous recessive traits to create our genotype for the "child." After the genotypes were created, we found the phenotypes of our child, creating a physical appearance for it. We ended up with a female child, that displayed all of the traits we created. The traits our child displayed were a circular face shape, red, star eyes, straight, short hair, a thin smile, hot pink, pointed ears, a orange, down nose, a yellow colored face, and freckles.

Week 2 Reflection

      For the week of 1/13- 1/17, I learned about Mendelian Genetics. I learned new vocabulary, and how to do monohybrid crosses. I learned about genotypes(a collection of genes(and alleles) in an organism) and phenotypes(observable properties of an organism). In a lab I did on Thursday with my partner, Rachel, we used traits and created our own "child". Using homozygous dominant, heterozygous, and homozygous recessive we create our genotype's for the "child". After the genotypes were created we found the different traits that were displayed in the "child's" face. We then found the gender of the child and found out that it was a girl. We then drew a picture based off of the traits displayed.

 

 Our "child" has specific phenotypes specific to her. We got our traits by flipping a coin to get our genotype. We then drew her and colored her the colors chosen by the genotypes. And then the directions said if female draw a pink bow on her head. So we ended up with the picture above ^.We decided to name her Brooke.











Then we found the probability of getting the phenotypes as well as
how many recessive and dominant homozygous ones there were.
We had 4 recessive and 8 dominant.

This week in Biology, we learned about Mendelian Genetics. Mendelian Genetics is based off of the work that Gregor Mendel did in his pea garden. Mendel was a monk who created the basis of what we know about genetics through a perfectly designed experiment he conducted in the pea garden he tended. He created Punnet squares that are used to determine probability when figuring out what traits offspring will obtain. Using our knowledge, we conducted the Genetics With A Smile lab in which we flipped a coin to determine what gene from each parent the offspring would get. The girl smiley face that Olivia and I created had an oval shaped head which is a recessive trait, star shaped eyes which is a dominant trait, and straight hair which is also dominant. Along with those traits she also received a thick smile (dominant), curved ears (dominant), a nose facing down (dominant), a green face (recessive), blue eyes (dominant), long hair (dominant), and freckles were present (dominant). The last two traits were determined with a lack of dominance. She got a yellow nose and teal ear color. These traits were neither dominant or recessive.

A Picture of My Smiley from My Phone 

Week 1 Reflection

This week we learned about the process of meiosis. Meiosis is a reduction division that creates 4 genetically different, haploid daughter cells. Meiosis is much like mitosis in that the cell goes through prophase, metaphase, anaphase, and telophase. However, meiosis goes through these steps twice, having eight steps instead of four. It contains two divisions, meiosis I and meiosis II. In prophase I, the chromosomes replicate, and find their homologous chromosome to form a tetrad. Homologous chromosomes means chromosomes that code for the same gene. When they pair up, they may exchange genes. The process of exchanging genes is called crossing over. The tetrads line up at the center in metaphase I, and the homologous chromosomes are pulled apart in anaphase I. Two new diploid, daughter cells are formed through meiosis I. Before the cells undergo meiosis II, the DNA does not replicate. The chromosomes line up at the center of the cell in metaphase II, and the sister chromatids are pulled apart in anaphase II. Four daughter cells are now formed and become gametes. The cells are haploid and all are genetically different causing no one offspring to be identical. The gametes created in males are called sperm, and in females they are called eggs. In males, all four of the created cells develop into sperm, while in females only one cell becomes the egg, and the others support that egg.

http://biologypost.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/meiosis.jpg

Week 1 Reflection

This week we learned about meiosis.  Meiosis is the production of sex cells.  Meiosis has 8 phases and 2 parts.  We learned about the difference between haploid and diploid cells.  Haploid means half the number of chromosomes and diploid means a full set of chromosomes.  Meiosis produces 4 genetically different haploid daughter cells.  The average human has forty-eight chromosomes, which is a set of twenty-three.  If an organism has more or less than forty-eight chromosomes, it will probably experience mental retardation or another mutation.  This weeks topic was pretty interesting to learn about.

Week 1 Reflection

This week I learned about meiosis and sexual reproduction. I learned that mitosis is the growth and regeneration of new cells, and meiosis is creating sex cells. Mitosis occurs in all body cells, while meiosis occurs in sex cells, such as the ovaries and testicles. In mitosis there are four phases, and one cell division. In meiosis there are eight phases and two cell divisions. I learned that the zygote produced is diploid. Mitosis results in two daughter cells, and meiosis results in four daughter cells. Diploid is the full set (46 chromosomes), and haploid is half the regular number (23 chromosomes). I also learned that crossing-over occurs in prophase 1, if it does happen. I learned that both chromosomes of a pair carry "matching" genes, and control the same inherited characters. If we want to reproduce, it is the joining of egg and sperm. I learned that chromosomes are organized by size (usually largest to smallest). 

Week 1 Reflection

For the week of 1/7 - 1/10, I learned about Meiosis and Sexual Reproduction. I learned that Meiosis is eight steps. The eight steps of Meiosis are Prophase 1, Metaphase 1, Anaphase 1, Telophase 1 & Cytokinesis, Prophase 2, Metaphase 2, Anaphase 2, Telophase 2 & Cytokinesis (in order). Meiosis starts with one diploid cell and ends with four different haploid cells. I learned that humans have a full set of chromosomes at the number 46. 46 is diploid, so the haploid number is 23 chromosomes. I learned that 23 chromosomes are from the egg,(the mom) and 23 chromosomes are from the sperm(the dad), for a total of 46. The joining of sperm and egg is called fertilization. I also learned about the differences between Meiosis and Mitosis.