Genetics & Inheritance SCN 4-14c: I can use my understanding of how characteristics are inherited to solve simple genetics problems and relate this to my understanding of DNA, genes and chromosomes.

Activity 1 I will be able to define the terms fertilisation, species, variation and chromosome and gene. I will be able to relate my understanding of the process of fertilisation to the passing on of chromosomes.

GLOW Science Videos - Genetics Watch Inheritance 1

Definition “If organisms belong to the same species they can interbreed to produce fertile offspring.”

Horse Donkey Horses and donkeys can mate to produce a mule – but mules are not fertile so horses and donkeys are separate species. This is a HYBRID. Mule Tuesday, April 11, 2017 5

The Liger

In the wild tigers and lions are enemies likely to kill each other. Most lions are in Africa and most tigers are in Asia. These types of cross occur in captivity

A Beefalo

11/04/2017 Variation “Variation” is the name given to differences between individuals of the SAME species. Variation is due to GENETIC or ENVIRONMENTAL causes. For example, consider identical twins: Ways in which Patty and Selma are the same (caused by genes): Ways in which Patty and Selma are different (caused by environment): Patty Bouvier Selma Bouvier 9

Variation Human examples – height, pulse, blood type, hand span, etc.. This variation within a species can either be CONTINUOUS or DISCONTINUOUS.

If the variation in a characteristic… can not be put into distinct groups has a continuous range of values it shows a wide range of values between the maximum and minimum measurements = CONTINUOUS VARIATION.

Continuous Variation

Continuous Variation e.g. weight

Continuous Variation e.g. Height

If the variation in a characteristic…. -allows individuals to be placed into distinct groups -does not show a range of values -has clear cut differences between individuals = DISCONTINUOUS VARIATION.

Dicontinuous Variation AB A B O

Discontinuous Variation e.g. ear lobes Attached lobe Unattached lobe

Where is this information stored? 11/04/2017 Where is this information stored? Section of a chromosome: Genes for blood group: Genes for eye colour Genes for hair colour Different species have different numbers of chromosomes. Humans have 46 (23 pairs) in every cell. 18

Variation in Humans Human species have 23 pairs of chromosomes in every cell except the gametes. There is an enormously large number of combinations of chromosomes to form zygotes because fertilisation is random. This means that all zygotes are different. (It depends on which gamete does the fertilising!) Tuesday, April 11, 2017 19

Fertilisation All of our cells contain one set of chromosomes from the mother and one set of chromosomes from the father – this make the 2n! This means there is one set of genes from the mother and one set of genes from the father.

Karyogram –shows the Chromosomes found in a male and female human Karyogram –shows the Chromosomes found in a male and female human. What do you notice about them?

Activity 2 I can define the term allele and give examples of alleles for different characteristics.

Alleles Genes control the characteristics of an organism, e.g. flower colour in peas. Alleles are different forms of the same gene. An allele is a different form of that gene, e.g. red flower or white flower. Flickr.com chestofbooks.com 23

Examples of alleles Organism Gene Different Alleles Pea plant Height Tall or dwarf Humans Blood type A or B or O Fruit fly Wing type Normal or vestigial Maize Seed colour Purple or yellow Labrador Dog Coat colour Golden or black Budgerigar Feather colour Blue or green 24

E.g. Pea Flower Colour

E.g. Human Characteristics rothamsted.ac.uk

Think & Discuss: So for each of your characteristics there are 2 genes controlling it – one from your mother and one from your father. If these lists show the genes in a sperm and in an egg, what genes would you expect to find in the new human?

Answer: They would have all of them! So what would they look like?

Activity 3 I can define the terms genotype, phenotype, dominant and recessive.

Genotype V Phenotype Genotype is the sum of all the genes you possess (represented by letters). Phenotype is the actual physical characteristics you have because of those genes (represented in words). Not all the genes in your genotype can or will show up in your phenotype – why not?

Genotype and Phenotype seniorapbiologyreview.wikispaces.com

Dominant V Recessive The gene in each pair which is dominant always shows through. Imagine the following scenario: The tall gene is dominant to the short gene so the person would be? Tongue rolling is dominant to non-tongue rolling so the person would be? The persons eye colour would be?

A dominant allele will always show up in the appearance of an organism. A recessive allele will only show up if it is paired with another recessive allele. When describing an allele, for convenience, we usually give it a symbol, generally the first letter of the dominant allele. 33

dj003.k12.sd.us

“Symbols for Alleles” sheet If it is dominant it gets the capital letter and if it is recessive it gets the lower case of the same letter. E.g. in pea plants tall is dominant over dwarf, and so the tall allele is given the letter T, and the dwarf allele the letter t. The genotype of the organism is the alleles it carries for that particular characteristic. Complete the “Symbols for Alleles” sheet T t 35

TT is a genotype and the plant phenotype will be tall. Tt is a genotype and the plant phenotype will be tall, because the T is dominant over the t. Recessive genes have no effect when paired with dominant genes. tt is a genotype and the plant phenotype will be dwarf. The outward appearance of one of its characteristics i.e.What the plant actually looks like (how the genes are expressed) is called its phenotype. 36

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GLOW Science Videos - Genetics Watch Inheritance 2

Definition Board Work in a pair and try to write a definition for each word on a sticky note: Gene Chromosome Genotype Phenotype Dominant Recessive Allele Continuous Discontinuous

GLOW Science Videos - Genetics You could go back to the Inheritance 1 and 2 Videos and try the Quizzes!