Unit 4 Reflection

This unit was about how genes divide and are passed on to offspring. A big concept was how different sexual reproduction is from asexual. Sexual reproduction create genetic variation and can breed for adaptations to environmental changes. Meiosis is the process of making sex cells that are necessary for fertilization. In meiosis, a human diploid cell divides with 46 chromosomes divides into 4 haploid gametes each with 23 chromosomes. A gene on the chromosomes In anaphase II, chromosomes separate into two cells. Both of Mendel's laws, the law of segregation and the law of independent assortment, take place in anaphase II.

Chromosomes have many traits on each chromosome that is recombined during meiosis. Chromosomes not only determine traits by autosomes, they also determine the sex of an organism by sex chromosomes. There are autosomal disorders and sex-linked disorders. Sex-linked disorders differ in probability to gender.
One of my weaknesses is remembering the phases of mitosis and meiosis. Another one is solving for the probability of blood types. One of my strengths is doing punnet squares and another one is knowing the advantages and disadvantages of sexual and asexual. A setback at the beginning of the unit was understanding the difference between meiosis and mitosis, but once we learned more about the gametes and Mendel's laws it became more clear.
I want to learn more about genes that have multiple factors or how adaptations form in DNA.

My results on the VARK Questionnaire were 11 for Visual, 8 for aural, 10 for writing, and 11 for
kinesthetic. I was not surprised about having the lowest aural because I know that I am not good at listening to problems or lectures and thinking without writing something down. I was surprised to have a good score on kinesthetic because I've never noticed that movement helps me learn. I am very aware of being a visual learner and I try to draw pictures not matter how bad and use colors. I should try to learn with kinesthetic styles by putting examples in my study guides and use diagrams.

Coin Sex Lab Relate+Review

         In this lab, we tested the probability of crosses with different genes and how they affected the phenotype. We labeled the sides of the coins and flipped them to imitate the probability of gene crosses during recombination and how the actual probability reflects on the outcome. The autosomal crosses tested traits found on non-sex chromosomes and were the same probability for each gender. X-linked inheritance differs by gender whether the disorder is dominant or recessive. In the lab we tested for color blindness, which is X-linked recessive. We predicted that there would be two colorblind children and we resulted in two color blind boys.  In the monohybrid cross, the sides of the coin acted as alleles and there was a 50/50 chance of landing on an allele if the gene was heterozygous and a 100% chance of having an allele if the gene was homozygous. It also shows the law of independent assortment because the probability of getting a gene is not dependent on the probability of the other coin since they are completely separate.The probability of flipping a coin is similar to how the genes separate during meiosis, they can go either way and it is equally likely.
         Our results in the dihybrid cross were similar to our expectations but they were not exact, proving that the ratio of 9:3:3:1 is not always correct in most cases. Our results were 6:4:4:2, where the order of greatest to least still followed very well in the phenotypes of the expected results. But the amount of completely recessive homozygous genotypes was one more than our guess, which was interesting since it is the most unlikely genotype. The idea of the ratio 9:3:3:1 is a good guide to what should be the most common genotype and the least common, but it is not the only ratio to be received from a dihybrid cross.
        The limitations of relying on Punnet squares lies in the unknown results that chance answers. Probability is a synopsis of what is the most common situation to come about. Predicting offspring can't rely on probability because many situations are uncommon in life. The way that genes segregate can not be predicted, but we can solve for the probability of what happens with both outcomes of segregation.
        My dad has green eyes and my mom has brown eyes. My brother got my dad's green eyes and I have always been jealous as to why I didn't have his eye color too. My eyes are light brown, which it almost a mix of green and brown but not quite. It was interesting to find out the scientific explanation of how the trait is recessive and how that affected me and my family.

Genetics Infographic