Breeding Critters More Traits

Breeding Critters More Traits 65 40- to 1-2 50-minute sessions ACTIVITY OVERVIEW I N V E S T I G AT I O N Students model the diversity of offspring possible from two parents and discover patterns of inheritance other than strict dominant/recessive traits. KEY CONCEPTS AND PROCESS SKILLS (with correlation to NSE 5 8 Content Standards) 1. Students create models to understand and communicate scientific information. (Inquiry: 1) 2. Students use mathematics in all aspects of scientific inquiry such as the calculation of ratios of dominant to recessive traits in genetic crosses. (Inquiry: 1) 3. Scientific explanations emphasize evidence, have logically consistent arguments, and use scientific principles, models, and theories. (Inquiry: 2) 4. The characteristics of an organism can be described in terms of a combination of traits inherited from both parents. (Life Science: 2) KEY VOCABULARY allele characteristic chromosome diversity dominant gene recessive trait D-123

Activity 65 Breeding Critters More Traits MATERIALS AND ADVANCE PREPARATION For the teacher Transparency 65.1, Breeding Critters More Traits * green, red, blue, and orange overhead transparency pens 9 plastic cups (or more, for setting out critter parts) 1 Scoring Guide: UNDERSTANDING CONCEPTS (UC) For the class 56 1-1/2 inch foam balls (for critter body segments) 16 1-inch foam balls (for critter heads) 16 blue pipe cleaners, cut in half 16 orange pipe cleaners, cut in half 100 round head brass fasteners 40 red straws 50 green straws 60 blue straws 50 yellow paper clips 40 blue thumbtacks 100 toothpicks For each group of four students * colored pencils 1 plastic cup For each pair of students 1 Student Sheet 65.1, Critter Breeding Worksheet * 2 pennies For each student 1 Scoring Guide: UNDERSTANDING CONCEPTS (UC) (optional) *Not supplied in kit Masters for Scoring Guides are in Teacher Resources III: Assessment. Cut each pipe cleaner in half. Cut the green straws into four equal lengths. (The lengths don t need to be perfect quarters. You can cut 3 5 straws at a time.) Cut the red and blue straws into six equal lengths. Decide how you will distribute the materials for the critter assembly. It is probably best to have one or two stations, with each critter component in a separate plastic cup and the foam balls in a box or bag. One student from each table can obtain the critter pieces for the whole group after they finish their coin tossing. Each student group should have a clear plastic cup for their used pieces after they disassemble their critters, and one group member must be responsible for returning used pieces to the central stations. You may prefer to use flat blue thumbtacks or blue sequins and glue for the critter eyes, rather than the pushpins provided in the kit. Remember that glue and sequins will be harder to clean up. D-124

Breeding Critters More Traits Activity 65 If the foam balls become damaged as students use them, stale marshmallows can be used instead for the body segments and head. (Make sure students do not eat the marshmallows.) Prepare Transparency 65.1 and use colored transparency markers to color the critters as follows: Color Skye s tail blue and Poppy s orange. Make Skye s legs blue and Poppy s red, and color Skye s spike blue and Poppy s two spikes green. Color the tails, legs, and short spikes of Ocean and Lucy blue, and color their two long spikes green. TEACHING SUMMARY Getting Started 1. Introduce the investigation of more critter traits to learn about variations in the pattern of inheritance discovered by Mendel. Doing the Activity 2. (LITERACY) Students conduct the critter-breeding simulation and build the offspring critters. Follow-Up 3. (UC ASSESSMENT) Students observe one another s results and answer the Analysis Questions. BACKGROUND INFORMATION The Critter Simulation This activity provides an enjoyable opportunity for students to observe the variety of offspring that can be produced by two parents. In this case, the Generation Two parents, Ocean and Lucy, are genetically identical. However, a great deal of variety arises in their offspring because Ocean and Lucy are heterozygous for every gene. The model also simulates co-dominance, incomplete dominance, environmental effects on inherited traits, and sex determination. Five of the nine traits (number of body segments, leg color, number of eyes, tail color, and number of antennae) show a dominant vs. recessive mechanism of inheritance. The other traits show interesting deviations from this pattern. These include incomplete dominance, which gives an intermediate appearance in the heterozygote (simulated by nose length) and co-dominance, in which both traits are fully present in the heterozygote (modeled by the blue and green spikes). The tail-style trait is used to simulate environmental influences. Curly tail is dominant only if the critter s diet includes plenty of the imaginary critter nutrient, crittric acid, during development. This example is intended to be humorous, but it represents the importance of nutrition and other factors in the development of young organisms. The inheritance of sex is unusual in that it is determined by the presence or absence of a particular chromosome. In mammals and many other organisms, the presence of a Y chromosome usually results in a male. Because only males have Y chromosomes, only the male parent can donate this chromosome to the offspring. Sex determination varies in different species; for instance, in birds the female has two different sex chromosomes. D-125

Activity 65 Breeding Critters More Traits TEACHING SUGGESTIONS GETTING STARTED 1. Introduce the investigation of more critter traits to learn about variations in the pattern of inheritance discovered by Mendel. Tell students that in order to keep the earlier investigation of Skye and Poppy simple, they focused only on tail colors. Skye and Poppy actually have a number of other genetic differences shown on the introductory page of the Student Book. Because all other critters on Skye s island look like Skye and all other critters on Poppy s island look like Poppy, scientists assume that each critter carries two identical alleles for every trait and that their Generation Two offspring are heterozygous for every gene. Ask, Skye had the dominant tail color. Whose trait was dominant for the other characteristics? Students should notice that Skye and Poppy each had some dominant traits. Use Transparency 65.1 to review Skye s and Poppy s traits, and the outcome of crossing them to produce Ocean and Lucy and their siblings. These results are listed in Table 1 in the Student Book. Point out that all 100 offspring of Skye and Poppy are identical except for their sex and the fact that approximately 50% have curly tails. Tell students that sex determination and straight vs. curly tails are two of the interesting characteristics they will investigate in this activity. n Teacher s Note: If students have asked whether Skye and Poppy are mammals, or insects, etc., remind them that they are not in any known group; they are imaginary creatures. Students may also question the breeding of siblings, but in fact this is common in breeding experiments. DOING THE ACTIVIT Y 2. (LITERACY) Students conduct the critterbreeding simulation and build the offspring critters. Distribute Student Sheet 65.1 and review the Procedure thoroughly. Have students look carefully at how the Student Sheet is set up. One student in the pair tosses a penny to determine which allele Ocean contributes, while the other tosses a penny to determine Lucy s contribution. The students should work together and determine one trait at a time. For example, for body segments the first student might toss heads and the second student tails. According to the columns on the Student Sheet, this means that Ocean donates a B body allele and Lucy donates a b body allele. Step 4 of the Procedure directs students to determine the traits, using Table 2 in the Student Book or the information in the first column of the Student Sheet. When students have completed their tosses and filled in the offspring s genes and sex chromosomes on the Student Sheet, they can proceed to Step 7 of the Procedure. This may be a good breaking point if you plan to spend two sessions on this activity. Have each pair of students use Table 3 in the Student Book to determine exactly the number, kind, and color of pieces they will need to make their critters. Then they should obtain the pieces and foam balls and assemble the critters. Remind them to use the smaller foam balls for the critters heads. They should save their critters for other students to observe until the very end of the class session, when you will assign them to clean up and return reusable pieces for the next class. FOLLOW UP 3. (UC ASSESSMENT) Students observe one another s results and answer the Analysis Questions. Analysis Questions 1, 2, and 3 can be answered by the students working in their groups of four and then discussed by the class. If students then seem to be ready to go on by themselves, they can answer the rest of the questions independently. If not, continue to help them as they complete Questions 4 and 5. Analysis Questions 4 7 can be used as quick checks for formative assessment of students ability to analyze the data they have collected. Question 8 can be used as an assessment of whether students understand the concept of a recessive trait. Their responses can be scored with the UNDERSTANDING CONCEPTS (UC) scoring guide. D-126

Breeding Critters More Traits Activity 65 Students are usually surprised at the variety of siblings. Point out that only a few traits are considered in this activity. With more traits, the siblings would show even more diversity. Discuss sex determination, which depends primarily on the sex chromosomes in most organisms. A fascinating exception is the Nile crocodile and certain other groups of reptiles. In these organisms, the incubation temperature of the egg during one part of development determines whether the organism will be male or female. In the case of these organisms, sex determination is environmental rather than genetic. looking at the class s critter nursery, students will observe more of the dominant traits. See the table below. Characteristic Dominant trait Recessive trait Number of body segments 3 segments 2 segments Leg color blue red Number of eyes 2 3 Tail color blue orange Number of antennae 2 1 SUGGESTED ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS 1. Look at the other critters made by your classmates. They are all siblings (brothers and sisters). What are their similarities and differences? The critters look different in that most have different combinations of traits. They are similar in that all have similar head and body parts and similar shapes for their legs, eyes, and noses. A few of the offspring resemble each other in many features. 2. Which characteristics show a simple dominant/recessive pattern like tail color? List them in a table and indicate which version is dominant and which is recessive for each trait. Hint: Look at Table 1 to see which traits have this pattern. The number of body segments, leg color, the number of eyes, tail color, and the number of antennae all show a simple dominance vs. recessive pattern. In other words, one trait completely dominates, or masks the other, but the recessive trait reappears in some members of the next generation. The cross between Ocean and Lucy should give an approximately 3:1 ratio for each of these traits, although we do not suggest you have students determine the ratios unless you have plenty of extra time for them to do so. By Some traits do not show a simple dominant vs. recessive pattern. Look at Table 1 to help you answer Questions 3 5. 3. For which characteristic do some offspring have traits in between Skye s and Poppy s traits? Explain. (For example, in some plants, a cross between a red- and white-flowered plant will give pink-flowered offspring. This is called incomplete dominance.) The nose-length characteristic shows an intermediate trait in the offspring: Ocean and Lucy each have a nose in between the lengths of their parents (Skye and Poppy) long and short noses. Neither the short nor the long trait is dominant, despite the Nn notation. 3 4. For which characteristic do some offspring have both Skye s and Poppy s traits? Explain. (For example, in humans, a person with type A blood and a person with type B blood can have a child with type AB blood. This is called co-dominance, as both traits appear in the offspring.) Ocean and Lucy have both the green spikes from one parent and the blue spike from the other parent. Neither trait is dominant. n Teacher s Note: This is analogous to blood typing, with the G and H alleles being similar to A and B blood. This will be discussed in the next activity. D-127

Activity 65 Breeding Critters More Traits 5. Which critter trait is affected by an environmental factor, such as light, temperature, or diet? Explain. The inheritance pattern for tail style represents the role of environmental factors. In this case, the SS critters will have curly tails no matter what, but the Ss critters will develop curly tails only if they receive enough of a nutrient called crittric acid. n Teacher s Note: This trait is intended to reinforce the concept that both genes and the environment determine traits. This discussion will prepare students to think about the results they obtain with the seedlings. 6. Consider the pattern for sex determination. 3 3 a. How is a critter s sex determined? A critter s sex is determined by a pair of chromosomes. For critters (and humans), if the individual has two X chromosomes, it is a female. If the individual has one X and one Y chromosome, it is a male. n Teacher s Note: Note that there are exceptions to this generalization that involve individuals with three sex chromosomes, hormonal effects that alter the function of the genes on the sex chromosomes, or mutations in sex-determining genes. These details can wait for more advanced biology courses. b. Whose genetic contribution Ocean s or Lucy s determines the sex of the offspring? Ocean s genetic contribution determines the sex of the offspring, as Ocean can contribute either an X or Y chromosome. Lucy can contribute only an X chromosome. 3 7. Who does your critter most look like Skye, Poppy, Ocean, or Lucy? On which traits did you base your choice? Answers will vary widely. This question is intended to get students to compare the critters and notice differences among the offspring and their parents and grandparents. 8. (UC ASSESSMENT) Draw a critter with all recessive traits. Assume the recessive trait for spikes is no spikes. Level 3 Response Expect a drawing of a critter with a straight orange tail, 2 body segments, red legs, 3 blue eyes, and one antenna. It should have no spikes and a short nose. D-128

Breeding Critters More Traits Skye Poppy Ocean Lucy 2009 The Regents of the University of California Issues and Life Science Transparency 65.1 D-129

Name Date Critter Breeding Worksheet Trait Ocean s Alleles Offspring s Genes Offspring s Trait Lucy s Alleles Heads Tails From Ocean From Lucy (Use Critter Code to fill this in) Heads Tails 1. Body segments B b B b 2. Legs L l L l 3. Eyes E e E e 4. Nose N n N n 5. Tail color T t T t 6. Tail style S s S s 7. Antennas A a A a 2009 The Regents of the University of California 8. Spikes 9. Sex G H Ocean s Sex Chromosomes Heads X Tails Y Offspring s Sex Chromosomes From Ocean From Lucy Offspring s Sex G H Lucy s Sex Chromosomes Heads X Tails X Issues and Life Science Student Sheet 65.1 D-131