Milestone Practice

Question
Each version of a particular
gene is called

a. dominant
b. recessive
c. an allele
d. coded for
 S7L3
 Obtain, evaluate, and communicate
information to explain how organisms
reproduce either sexually or asexually
and transfer genetic information to
determine the traits of their offspring.
 A
 Construct an explanation supported with
scientific evidence of the role of genes and
chromosomes in the process of inheriting
a specific trait.
 Essential Question
 What role do genes and
chromosomes play in the
inheriting of specific traits?
Genetics and Heredity
Did you know that your genes
determine what you look like?
 They determine if you are
male or female.
 The color of your eyes.
 The color of your hair.
Can you roll your tongue into
a U shape?

Tongue
rolling is a
dominate
trait.
 Do you have a bent little
finger?
 Look at the little finger on
each hand. Do they bend in
toward your ring finger?
 That is a dominate trait.
Are your earlobes attached to your
face at the bottom?

That is a recessive trait.

Why don’t you look like your
neighbor?
 Because of heredity: the
passing of traits from
parents to offspring.
 How do we know about
heredity?
 Gregor Mendel used pea plants to
study the way traits are passed
from parents to offspring.
 He discovered that some traits
were dominate and others
recessive.
 He also discovered that each
plant had two sets of instructions
for each characteristic
 Gregor Mendel is called the
“Father of Genetics.”
 Genetics: the study of traits
being passed from parents
to offspring.
The Cell and Inheritance
Genetics, Let’s Break it down
 The human body is made-up
of trillions of cells.
 Each cell contains a nucleus.
 Each cell nucleus contains 23
pairs of chromosomes or 46
total (depending on the type of
organism).
 Chromosomes are rod
shaped structures that carry
inheritance material.
 Each of the 46
chromosomes contain DNA
for thousands of genes.
 What are genes?
 Genes are segments of DNA,
found on a chromosome, and
determines the inheritance of
a trait.
 Different genes determine
the different characteristics,
or traits, of an organism.
 One gene might determine
the color of a bird's feathers,
while another gene would
determine the shape of its
beak.
 1’s ask 2’s
What is the difference between
genes and chromosomes?
 The number of genes
varies from species to
species.
 We have around 35,000
genes.
 What is DNA?
 A very large molecule, made
up of smaller units called
nucleotides.
 It acts like the blueprint for
cells of an organism, telling
them how to put together
materials to produce certain
traits.
 Everyone’s DNA is different
(unless you are an identical
twin).
 Identical twins come from one
egg fertilized by one sperm.
 They have exactly the same
genes.
 Heredity
 When organisms reproduce,
genetic information from each
parent is passed to the next
generation.
 Some are easy to see, like
hair and eye color, skin type
and height.
 Some traits cannot be
seen, such as traits for
health conditions.
 Hemophilia (blood clotting
disorder).
 Color-blindness.
 Some traits we inherit are
also affected by our
environment such as: our
height, weight, and the
shape of our bodies.
Can you think of other
environmental factors?
 What are dominant and
recessive alleles?
 As we said earlier, every
organism has a set of genes
that determines traits.
 Each pair of genes are
called alleles.
 Offspring inherit one allele
from each parent.
 Sometimes one allele will
hide the affects of another.
When this happens we call
it a dominate allele.
 The allele that is hidden or
blocked is called a
recessive allele.
 Alleles are written using
letters.
 A dominant allele is
represented by a capital
letter, X.
 A recessive allele is
represented by a lowercase
letter, x.
Alleles may be written like this:

 XX
 Xx
 xx
 Example: Color of seeds
 Yellow: YY
Green: yy
 Yellow: Yy
 Which allele is dominant?
Recessive?
Offspringinherit one allele
from each parent.

Father Mother
Tt tt
Child
Tt
 The offspring may get two
dominant alleles (TT) or two
recessive alleles (tt).
 When an organism has two
alleles that are the same the
alleles are called
homozygous (remember
“homo” means the same).
 Example: Tall (TT) Short (tt)

TT
tt
Tall plant Short plant

Tt
Tall plant
 Offspring that inherit two of
the same alleles for a trait
are said to be pure for that
trait.
tt= pure
TT= pure
Tt= NOT PURE
 The offspring may inherit one
dominant allele and one
recessive allele. ( Tt )
 When an organism has two
alleles that are different, the
alleles are called
heterozygous (remember
“hetero” means different).
 The organism that carries
both the dominant allele and
the recessive allele for the
trait is called a hybrid (a
cross; mixture).
How do I identify dominant and
recessive alleles?
 TT will produce a tall plant.
 Tt will produce a tall plant
(the dominant trait blocks
out the recessive trait).
 tt will produce a short plant.
Dominant Recessive
form of Trait form of Trait
Curly hair Straight hair
Widow’s Straight
peak hairline
Free ear lobe Attached ear
lobe
 Key Terms Foldable

 Gene  Phenotype
 Chromosome  Genotype
 Heredity  Dominant
 Allele  Recessive
 TOTD
What role do genes and
chromosomes play in the
process of inheriting
specific traits?
How do I use a Punnett Square to
predict results of genetic crosses?
 The Punnett square is a
table that can be used to
predict what traits offspring
will inherit.
 The top part of the table
shows the alleles of the
male parent.
 On the side are the two
alleles from the female
parent.
 Male alleles (Gg)
G g
GG Gg
Female G
Alleles
(Gg) Gg gg
g
 Each of the squares show
a possible outcome for the
offspring.
 Male alleles (Gg)
G g
GG Gg
Female G
Alleles
(Gg) Gg gg
g
 The possible outcomes are
called genotypes.
 GG, Gg, gg are genotypes.
 The actual physical
appearance of the trait is the
phenotype.
 A green pod would be a
phenotype.
 Black dog (Bb)
B b
Bb bb
Blonde b
dog
(bb) Bb bb
b
 What is the dominant trait?

 Black
 What is the recessive trait?

Blonde
 What are the possible
genotypes?
Bb
bb
 What are the possible
phenotypes?
Black dogs
Blonde dogs
 What are the chances?
 Offspring are equally likely to
inherit either allele from either
parent.
 The mathematical chance that
an event will happen is called
probability.
 Probability is shown as a
fraction or as a percent.
 What are the chances?
We can compute the
probability that an offspring
will inherit a certain trait
using the Punnett square.
Let’s go back to the
puppies
 What is the probability that
the puppies will have black
fur?
There are four possibilities.
Two squares have Bb. The
other two squares have bb.
So, there are two genotypes
for black fur.
 What is the probability that
the puppies will have black
fur?

 2/4= ½ = 50%
 There is a 50% chance the
puppies will have black fur.
 The Human Genome

Humans have thousands of

genes
All of these genes make up
the human genome.