Wk 11, Looking Ahead to wk 12

Meiosis

I hope you all did the readings and watched the videos last week on meiosis.  It probably seemed very familiar, since it is similar to mitosis.  It is important not to mix these two processes up though! The key things to remember:

• Mitosis is for making exact copies of cells, and Meiosis is for making unique sex cells (each with half the chromosomes of a normal body cell).
• A normal body cell in humans has 46 chromosomes, 23 from mom and 23 from dad, and we call this condition diploid and represent it with the symbol 2n.
• A sex cell, also called a gamete, has 23 chromosomes, and we call this condition haploid and represent it with the symbol n.
• When a male gamete fuses with a female gamete you get a single new cell with 46 chromosomes, which is diploid, and called a zygote.
• During meiosis, when sister chromatids line up with each other they can swap genetic information in a process known as  crossing over.

Bioethics

We began a discussion on bioethics in class this week.  After learning about some interesting issues in genetics, from mutations to pet cloning to cybernetic roses, we posed the question, "When is it ethical to alter genetic information?"  There was some good discussion and ideas, and we will be coming back to this question again several times.

Readings and Other Resources

Don't forget to do the readings! And work on vocabulary!

12 Genetics, Inheritance *Second Mini Project assigned - Qwotekutesnute*

Ch. 10 Your Inheritance

Ch 11 Intro-Review

CK12 BC 3.1-3.15

CK12 LSC 3.8-3.14

Gregor Mendel - both, Teacher's Pet video on the father of genetic study Monohybrids and the Punnett Square - both, Amoeba Sisters explain alleles, monohybrid crosses, and the Punnett square Dihybrid Crosses - scholar, this is also Amoeba Sisters but teaches a slightly more complex Punnett square for two traits. Sex-linked Traits  - scholar, the genetics of sex-linked genes and how to put them in a Punnett square Multiple Alleles - scholar, sometimes there are more than just dominant and receive alleles for  a trait and here is how that works Non-Mendelian Traits - scholar