The Genetics of Harry Potter Creatures Mr. Nichols PHHS

Objectives The Student will be able to: 1.) Review concepts in Punnett and Pedigree Genetics

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Time for Some Competition! Prize: Bio Bucks…Duh!

Our First Genetic Case Study! When Queen Victoria of England was seventeen, she met one of her many cousins, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg. She fell deeply in love with him, and several years later, when they were both twenty years old, Victoria proposed to Albert. They were married on February 11, 1840; both were deliriously happy, and Victoria made Albert Prince Consort, giving him an equal say in the running of the country. What neither of them knew at the time was that Victoria was carrying the gene for hemophilia.

Your Mission! You are a genetic detective tasked with figuring out what type of inheritance pattern this disease is following in Queen Victoria’s family pedigree. You’ve conducted your preliminary research and constructed a rough pedigree of the family history. You’ve also concluded that the disease is not autosomal.

Fluffy: The Three Headed Dog

Fluffy Problems Three-headism in Dogs is very uncommon (obviously), however there exists two genes that when in combination give an offspring with three heads. These two genes have alleles A and B that when both homozygous recessive yield the condition. Apply this and determine how many of the offspring will have the three heads. 1.) Dog 1 Heterozygous x Dog 2 Heterozygous - (for both genes) 2.) Dog 1 Heterozygous x Dog 2 Homozygous Recessive -(for both genes)

Giant Spiders!

Spider Problem These species of Giant spiders have venom that can mutate the genes in the human genome. One afternoon Harry and Ron are walking through the Dark Forest and are both bitten by a Giant Spider. Remarkably they get away and maintain a healthy life style. Little did they know that their sex cells will now permanently behave differently when they fertilize eggs. Harry: Bbrr x Ginny bbrr (B-Brown hair, b-Red Hair, R-four legs r- two legs ) All offspring that are heterozygous for any hair color have their alleles mutated to blonde color. How did this affect the offspring distribution?

Dragons!

Dragon Problem All current dragons can trace their family history back to a single mating pair. These two dragons had 5 offspring, three sons and two daughters. The three sons all found lady dragon friends, two of those couples had two offspring, all boys, the other son and his mate had three offspring all daughters. The two daughters found gentlemen friends with great hair and had children. One couple had four children, two males and two females. The other couple had two daughters who were identical twins! Draw this pedigree

Dragon Problem Cont’d All Male dragons have a terrible genetic disease that drastically affects their ability to catch prey and breath fire. The family of 6 has it’s two daughters affected by the disease as well. Determine what type of inheritance pattern this disease could follow.

The Genetics of Harry Potter Creatures: Day 2 Mr. Nichols PHHS

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Mountain Troll!

Trolling! Troll breeding is a tricky and lucrative business. When breeders select for a certain trait in trolls they must follow a 1:2:1 genotype distribution relationship. If Allele “R” determines a trait for brain size what genotype(s) must the breeder use to maintain the ideal genotype distribution relationship? How might this specific breeding affect the troll population?

The Hippogriff

Create a Hippogriff

Hippogriff Problem Hippogriffs are created by mating a Male Hippo with a Female Griffin (try not to imagine how the courtship works). However there is a problem, when a certain allele combination is present the infant dies shortly after birth 100% of the time. Homozygous Dominant is the lethal genotype.

Hippogriff Problem Cont’d Draw a 3 generation pedigree, starting with 2 heterozygous parents and always producing 4 children (have each child represent one of the punnett square genotypes). Have all offspring mate with outsiders who have the ‘healthy’ homozygous condition. Draw a line through all dead infant Hippogriffs. What trends do you notice? How has this genetic disease affected the Hippogriff population?

Weasley Family Pedigree R- Red Hair, r- Brown Hair or blonde hair. -Assign Genotypes -Determine Inheritance Pattern