Thursday, April 21, 2011

Genetics Reflection

In our Biology class this week we have learned about genetics. We learned about many dominant and recessive traits, figured out which traits we have, and then discovered which traits out parents and siblings have. Being the youngest of five, theres is no way for me to contacts all of my siblings but I was able to obtain my parents and my oldest sister. Here was some of the data I obtained.

Trait                              Mom                  Dad                Katie            Me 
Tongue  Roller               +                        +                      +                  -

Attached Ear Lobe         +                        -                       +                  -

Hitch Hikers Thumb      +                        +                      +                  +

Widows Peak                 -                         -                        -                   -


By knowing this simple information I was able to figure out my parents genotype for certain traits. Due to the face that both my parents and my sister can roll their tongue and I cannot, it is safe to assume that both of my parents is heterozygous for tongue rolling.  If either on was homozygous dominant then I would have to be able to curl my tongue because I would have to be either homozygous dominant or heterozygous not homozygous recessive. As for hitch hikers thumb, I know for a fact that everyone in my family has one, meaning that most like both my parents are homozygous recessive. 

Being a lefty I took the time to research the topic of handedness. For the past three generations on my mothers side, the youngest in the family has been a lefty, including myself. This made me think that left handedness is a recessive trait and I obtained it because my mom and dad are heterozygous; however, this is not true. I researched handedness and found that much is still a mystery. One thing that they are sure of is that Handedness is not entirely a recessive or dominant gene. When both parents are left handed, meaning they would both be homozygous recessive their children have a 30-40% chance of being lefty. If being left was recessive gene then this would mean that all of their kids would be lefty. Scientists are now beginning to take into account environmental factors and although they are not 100% certain why it is caused, it is something that I am interested to learn more about.