Mouse Genetics (One Trait) Gizmo Answer Key

Name: Caden Myers Date: 11-24-2022 Student Exploration: Mouse Genetics (One Trait) Directions: Follow the instructions to go through the simulation. Respond to the questions and prompts in the orange boxes. Vocabulary: allele, DNA, dominant allele, gene, genotype, heredity, heterozygous, homozygous, hybrid, inheritance, phenotype, Punnett square, recessive allele, trait Prior Knowledge Questions (Do these BEFORE using the Gizmo.) 1. The image shows a single litter of kittens. How are they similar to one another? They all have white fur and are rather little. 2. How do they differ from one another? Each of them has a unique pattern of the second color. 3. What do you think their parents looked like? Their parents likely had spots all around them. Gizmo Warm-up Heredity is the passage of genetic information from parents to offspring. The rules of inheritance were discovered in the 19th century by Gregor Mendel. With the Mouse Genetics (One Trait) Gizmo™, you will study how one trait, or feature, is inherited. 1. Drag two black mice into the Parent 1 and Parent 2 boxes. Click Breed to view the five offspring of these parents. What do the offspring look like? Children all resemble their parents' ebony skin. The appearance of each mouse is also called its phenotype. 2. Click Clear, and drag two white mice into the parent boxes. Click Breed several times. What is the phenotype of the offspring now? Offspring all look like their parents white. 3. Do you think mouse offspring will always look like their parents? Explain: I believe most the time yes but in many cases offspring are not identical with each other or with their parents. Activity A: Patterns of inheritance Get the Gizmo ready: ● Click Clear. ● Drag a black mouse and a white mouse into the parent boxes, but don’t click Breed yet. Question: What patterns are shown by offspring traits? 1. Predict: What do you think the offspring of a black mouse and a white mouse will look like? a blend in its initial generation The majority of them resemble black mice, but if we look at later generations, we might anticipate seeing some white mice. 2. Observe: Click Breed several times. What do you see? Only black mice that are moving are visible to me. 3. Observe: Drag two offspring into the Holding Cages. These mice are called hybrids because their parents had different traits. Click Clear, and then breed the two hybrids. What do you see now? I observed four black mice and one white mouse from a second generation of black and white mice. 4. Experiment: Turn on Show statistics. Click Breed until there are 100 offspring. How many offspring were black? 69 How many were white? 31 5. Explore: Try other combinations of mouse parents. Write the results of each experiment in your notes. When you have finished, answer the following questions. (Note: You can refer to the parents as “pure black,” “pure white,” or “hybrid.”) A. Which parent combination(s) yield only white offspring? pure white B. Which parent combination(s) yield only black offspring? pure black C. Which parent combination(s) yield a mixture of black and white offspring? hybrid 6. Challenge: Based on experiments similar to these, Gregor Mendel devised a theory of inheritance. Use your own observations to come up with your own explanation of how a trait such as fur color is passed down from parents to offspring. If possible, discuss your theory with your classmates and teacher. Due to dna, characteristics of mice are passed from parents to children. Activity B: Genetics basics Get the Gizmo ready: ● Click Clear. ● Drag a black mouse and a white mouse into the parent boxes. Introduction: Inherited traits are encoded on a molecule called DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid). Genes are segments of DNA that control a particular trait. Most genes have several different versions, or alleles. The genotype is the allele combination an organism has. Question: How do alleles determine fur color? 1. Observe: Turn on Show genotype. Move your cursor over a mouse to see its genotype. A. What is the genotype of the black parent? FF White parent? dd These mice are homozygous for fur color, meaning both alleles are the same. B. Click Breed. What is the genotype of the offspring mice? Ff These mice are heterozygous for fur color, meaning the alleles are different. 2. Analyze: Dominant alleles are always expressed when present. Recessive alleles are not expressed when the dominant allele is also present. Look at the two alleles for fur color. A. Which allele is dominant, and which fur color does it produce? The black-furred mice were produced by the (F) dominant alley. B. Which allele is recessive, and which fur color does it produce? White-furred mice are the result of the recessive allele (f). 3. Predict: Place two of the Ff offspring into the Holding Cages. Click Clear, and then place them into the parent boxes. A. Which allele(s) could the offspring inherit from parent 1? Ff B. Which allele(s) could the offspring inherit from parent 2? Ff C. What are the possible genotypes of the offspring? Ff, ff and Ff 4. Experiment: Click Breed several times, and look at the genotypes of the offspring. Did you find all the predicted genotypes? Explain. Well, after breeding parents both Ff, I got to know that the offspring would not only be Ff’s but also dominant Alleles such as FF and also recessive ff Get the Gizmo ready: Activity C: ● Click Clear. ● Drag a black mouse and a white mouse into the parent boxes. Modeling inheritance Question: How do scientists predict the genotypes of offspring? 1. Model: Scientists use a Punnett square to model the different possible offspring genotypes from a parent pair. The parent genotypes are written across the top and side of the square, as shown. The four possible offspring genotypes are then filled in. F F f Ff Ff f Ff Ff The first square is filled in for you. Fill in the remaining squares. A. What are the genotypes of the offspring? Ff B. What percentage of the offspring will have black fur? 100% C. What percentage of the offspring will have white fur? 0% 2. Experiment: Click Breed several times. Were your predictions correct? yes 3. Model: Use the Punnett squares below to model each parent combination. After filling in each Punnett square, predict the percentages of black and white offspring. Parent 1: Heterozygous black (Ff) Parent 2: Heterozygous black (Ff) F f F FF Ff f Ff ff Parent 1: Heterozygous black (Ff) Parent 2: Homozygous white (ff) F f f Ff ff f Ff ff Predicted % black offspring: 75% Predicted % black offspring: 50% Predicted % white offspring: 15% Predicted % white offspring: 50% 4. Experiment: Turn on Show statistics and Show as approximate percentage. For each combination, breed approximately 500 offspring. Record the results in the table below. (Hint: To obtain an Ff mouse, breed an FF mouse to an ff mouse. Place two Ff offspring into the holding cages, click Clear, and then drag the Ff mice into the parent boxes.) Parent 1 Genotype Parent 2 Genotype Ff Ff Ff ff % Black offspring % White offspring 5. Draw conclusions: How well did the Punnett squares predict the offspring percentages for each parent pair? They predicted them accurately. 6. Summarize: In your own words, describe what heredity is and how it works in mice. Inheritance is the passing on to children of parental characteristics. On mice, heredity is the process by which characteristics from one set of parents are passed on to the following generation; it can be either sexual or asexual. 7. Think and discuss: Do you think most traits are inherited the way mouse fur color is? Why do you think this is? Yes, even if a parent may have a recessive trait, when the two qualities from each parent are inherited, the dominant trait always manifests.