Harry potter genetics

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Potters’ Hair Colors Solve the two questions below and use Punnett Square to demonstrate how you arrived at your answers.

Question 1: Harry has dark hair like his father, but his mom had red hair. Using the genotypes of rr (red hair), Rr (dark/brown hair), RR (dark/brown hair), what possible genotypes does each of the Potters have?

Question 2: Harry marries Ginny who has red hair. What are possible genotypes of their children’s hair colors?

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Human Mendelian Traits Mendelian Traits are those traits which follow Mendel’s rules of only 2 possible versions (1 dominant, 1 recessive). There are many examples of this in humans.

1. Use the chart below to determine your phenotype (appearance) and possible genotypes (a pair of alleles). Since you cannot do a genetic test right now, if you have the dominant phenotype, you should include both the homozygous and heterozygous genotypes—see the examples on Tongue Rolling on the first row.

Trait Tongue Rolling Freckles Widow’s peak Earlobe Cleft chin Thumb Dimples Interlocking fingers (when hands are clasped)

Possible alleles Able to roll (R) Unable to roll (r) Have freckles (F) No freckles (f) Widow’s peak (W) Straight (w) Free hanging (A) Attached (a) Have cleft (C) No cleft (c) Hitchhiker’s (H) Straight (h) Dimples (D) No dimples (d) Left thumb on top (L) Right thumb on top (l)

Your Phenotype Ex., able to roll

Your Genotype(s) RR (homozygous) or Rr (heterozygous)

2. Did you have mostly dominant or recessive traits? ___________________

3. Compare your findings with other students. a. For which trait where most students dominant?

b. For which trait where most students recessive?

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4. First complete the Punnett Square on the right using your own genotype for each trait. If you have both heterozygous and homozygous genotypes for having a dominant trait, choose one to use. The other person’s genotype is provided. After completing the Punnett Square, identify possible phenotypes of offspring and the probability of each phenotype in percentage.

a) Freckle genotypes: Yours ____ & the other person’s Ff List possible Phenotypes % (Probability of inheritance)

b) Tongue rolling genotypes: Yours ____ & the other person’s rr List possible Phenotypes % (Probability of inheritance)

c) Dimple genotypes: Yours ____ & the other person’s DD List possible Phenotypes % (Probability of inheritance)

d) Widow’s peak genotypes: Yours ____ & the other person’s Ww List possible Phenotypes % (Probability of inheritance)

Complex Traits 1) Incomplete dominance

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Let’s assume that dragons show incomplete dominance for fire breathing. The F allele provides lots of fire and the F’ allele gives no fire. If a dragon that has very strong fire is crossed with a dragon that has moderate fire, what will their offspring be like? Under what conditions can a baby dragon be born that never has fire? Justify your answer with Punnett Squares.

2) Codominance Let’s say that the color of merpeople’s tail is controlled by a codominant gene and the alleles are blue (B) and green (G). Show a cross between two merpeople who have bluish-green tails (BG). Give the offspring phenotypes with percentages.

3) Multiple alleles The human blood cell surface protein has three alleles: A, B, and O. Could a person with B type blood and a person with A type blood ever have a baby with O type blood? Use Punnett squares to justify your answer.

4) Regulatory genes If boggarts’ ears are affected by a regulatory gene that silences (turns off) the expression of ears and if this silencing gene is dominant, what are possible genotypes of a baby boggart whose mom has ears but dad doesn’t?

Monster Genetics Lab You have learned about many different patterns of inheritance. Some are simple dominant or recessive, as in Mendelian traits. Some are more complex, such as incomplete dominant or

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codominant traits. In this lab you will investigate how a combination of these genes work together to create an organism.

Part 1 Procedure: 1. Flip a coin twice to determine the genotype for each trait and record it in the data table.

Heads = allele 1, Tails = allele 2 (Example: if you flipped heads twice, your monster will have two copies of allele 1 for his genotype.)

2. Determine the phenotype resulting from the allele pair for each trait.

3. Repeat steps 1-2 for each trait and complete the female monster’s Table 1.

Trait Eye

Table 1: Genotypes & Phenotypes for Female Monster Allele 1 Allele 2 Genotype Two small eyes (E) One large eye (e)

Eye Color (incomplete) Skin Color (codominant) Tail Shape

Red (R)

White (R’)

Green (G)

Blue (B)

Curly (C)

Straight (c)

Tail Color

Purple (P)

Orange (p)

Tail (regulatory gene) Teeth

Have tail (T)

No tail (t)

Sharp (S)

Round (s)

Feet (incomplete) Horn Color

Four toes (F)

Two toes (F’)

Purple (W)

White (w)

Ear shape

Pointy (Y)

Round (y)

Ears (regulatory) Claws

No ears (N)

Two ears (n)

Long (L)

Short (l)

Phenotype

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Part 2 Procedure: The female monster (described in Table 1) is married to a male monster (see Table 2 below) and they plan to have baby monsters. They are interested in finding out the probabilities of which traits their offspring will have.

1. Fill in the missing genetic information in the table for the male.

Table 2: Genotypes & Phenotypes for Male Monster Trait Genotype Phenotype Eyes ee Eye Color White (incomplete) Skin Color Green (codominant) Tail Shape Straight Tail Color Pp Tail No tail (regulatory) Teeth Round Feet FF’ (incomplete) Horn Color ww Ear shape yy Ears Have 2 ears (regulatory) Claws Short

2. Create Punnett squares (attach your work to this handout) to predict what traits would result from a cross between the two monsters for each trait, and answer the following questions: a. Eyes – What percent of offspring will have only one eye? _________ b. Eye Color – What percent of offspring will have red eyes? _________ c. Skin Color – What percent of offspring will have green skin? _________ d. Tail – What percent of offspring will have a tail? _________ e. Feet – What percent of offspring will have three toes? _________ f. Horn Color – What percent of offspring will have purple horns? _________ g. Ears – What percent of offspring will have ears? _________ h. Claws – What percent of offspring will have long claws? _________

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Word Match Activity Match the following genetic terms to their corresponding parts of the illustration: base pair, cell, chromosome, DNA (Deoxyribonucleic Acid), double helix*, genes, nucleus

Illustration Source: Talking Glossary of Genetic Terms http://www.genome.gov/ glossary.cfm?key=chromosome

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Basic Genetic Terms Use the available reference resources to complete the table below. After finding out the definition of each word, rewrite the definition using your own words (middle column), and provide an example of how you may use the word (right column).

Genetic Terms Definition in your own words An example Allele Genes Dominant

Recessive

Homozygous Heterozygous

Genotype

Phenotype

Mendelian Inheritance