Do you know what you're eating?

We've come a long way from Mendel, in the 1860's, tinkering with in his garden with Pea Plants. Instead of removing stamens from one flower and transferring that pollen to another flower, scientists can now insert genes into plasmids and create GMO's (genetically modified organisms).

"Today, four countries account for 99% of the world's commercially grown transgenic crops. But that is changing — policies are being thrashed out, laws drawn up, and seeds sown. Here we show how GM is taking root. Click on the map for information on the big hitters in the global GM scene."~ From Nature.com

What do you know about GMO's? Click start quiz below to take a quiz!Now that you've tested your knowledge, watch the videos below in for and against GMOs. Continue to ask questions and form your own opinion.

For GMO's: Click here to be taken to videos produced by Monsanto. Each clip is 2-3 minutes long.

Watch the video below that is against GMO's.

Wrapping up Chapter 9

Today and tomorrow we will be finishing chapter 9 by learning about pleiotropy, polygenic inheritance, chromosome mapping, sex determination and sex linked genes (sections 9.14-9.22).

Your book doesn't talk about Environmental Sex Determination (ESD) and this stuff is actually quite interesting. "The sex of hatchling turtles, like this Barbour's map turtle, is determined by incubation temperatures in the nest. Relatively warm incubation temperatures produce females, whereas cool temperatures produce males. Barbour's map turtle is only found in the Apalachicola River and its major tributaries in Alabama, Georgia, and Florida." To read the rest of the article click here to learn more about ESD and Climate Change.

Homework: Finish the remainder to the practice problems (through question 10) on the Genetics Practice Problem Sheet.

Genetics Problems for Lab on Wednesday & Saturday

For this week's lab you will be acting as Mendel would have in the middle of the 19th century. Go through each of the slides below (you can click on the picture to make it larger). For the first 15-20 minutes of class you are OWN YOUR OWN, you may ask your peers and work together, I will only answer minimal questions. Write your answers on sheet of paper.

This lab activity was developed by Dr. John Crosby for ASP.

Classical Genetics

Today students turned in their projects on meiosis and non-disjunction disorders. Today students learned how to solve trihybrid crosses using the multiplication rule.

What is the probability that AaBbCc X AaBbCc will produce an individual that is homozygous reccessive?

One option for solving a trihybrid cross is to make a giant punnett square (see below) or you can the multiplication rule.

Using the multiplication rule you take the probabilities of each individual event and multiply them together. There is a 1/4 chance of aa, 1/4 of bb and 1/4 chance of cc, multiplied together this equals 1/64.

Click here for practice genetics problems.

Patterns of Inheritance

Today we started chapter 9 and we're going to try something different. Rather than just using a PowerPoint and having students take notes, I created a packet that is a notes outline for chapter 9 with practice problems for most concepts. Over the next few days we'll work through the packet and only use PowerPoint to show diagrams that are too complex to draw on the board.

Here are the topics/concepts we went over today:
* Alleles, loci & homologous chromosomes
* genotype vs. phenotype
* homozygous vs. heterozgous
* Mendel's principles of segregation and independent assortment
* Test crosses & how to do them
* Interpreting family pedigrees


Reminder: your meiosis project is due tomorrow.