Week 4 Reflection

In this week's class, we reviewed family tree and pedigrees. We were assigned to create a family tree of our family and see how far back we could go. My goal is to go back at least three generations. My grandfather was able to trace our ancestry back all the way to 1795. Pedigrees can help you determine where traits come from. I would really be interested in doing a pedigree to see where i get my height from.
Tiburcio McGhee
#bloggin

Week 3 Reflection

This week the main topics we touched on were blood types and pedigrees. Blood types are inherited and are either A, B, AB, or O.  AB can accept any blood type, and O can be used by any blood type. Because AB has no antibodies and O has no antigens this is possible. Next, pedigrees are family trees that show the phenotypes of a specific inherited gene. For example, the diagram below exemplifies the inheritance of gene through multiple generations.














Arman Sani #bloggin

Blood Types and Pedigrees

Dear fellow bloggers,
This week in Mr. Wan's biology class, we learned about blood types and pedigrees.  The four blood types are A, AB, B, and O and are inherited from an offspring's parents.  The blood type O can give blood to any type and is recessive, while AB can receive any type of blood.  This is because O has no antigens and AB has no antibodies.  Pedigrees are phenotypic family trees.  They illustrate the inheritance of a particular gene.

  

-Tyler Giddens #Bloggin

Week 3: Blood Types

Dear fellow followers,

     This week Mr. Wan taught us about blood types. We learned that the 4 blood type groups are A, B, AB, and O, without the positives and negatives, we haven't learned that yet. We then learned that blood type O is a universal recipient, and that blood type AB is a universal recipient. Blood type A recieves from O and A, and donates to A and AB. Blood type B receives from O and B, and donates to B and AB. When determining the blood type using a punnett square the letter I is used, and the A's and B's are used as exponents. Thats all for this week. #bloggin


     -Tommy Knopf

Week 2: Reflection

Dear fellow followers,

     This week Mr. Wan taught us about genetics. We learned that the genotype is what you have but cannot see, and phenotype is what is expressed. In order to find what traits have been passed down, you use a punnett square. In genes, there is a dominant gene, and a recessive gene. The dominant gene is the one being expressed. The dominant gene is represented by a capital letter while a recessive gene is represented by lower case letter. After that we learned about sex linked genes, and lack of dominance genes. Genetics express who we are. #bloggin

     -Tommy Knopf

Week 2 Reflection

Hey there Bloggers,
Today we touched on the topic of genetics. Genetics is the study of heredity and the variation of inherited characteristics. We learned on phenotype and genotypes. The Genotype is the genetic constitution of an individual organism. The phenotype is the set of observable characteristics of an individual resulting from the interaction of its genotype with the environment.

Mendelian Genetics

Dear fellow bloggers,

This week in Biology, we learned about Mendelian genetics.  In order to do an offspring inheritance simulation, we flipped coins to demonstrate dominant and recessive allele.  This determined the phenotype of the offspring's hair, eyes, ears, mouth, skin, gender, and nose.  My wife Graham and I gave birth to a beautiful child on Wednesday.  On Friday, we took notes on sex-linked genes as well as dihybrid crosses.
In sex-linked traits, women have two X chromosomes, while men have one X chromosome and one Y chromosome.  Because of their single X chromosome, men will express whatever allele no matter dominant or recessive.  A dihybrid cross is the crossing of two organisms that differ in two traits.

Dihybrid Cross in Rats

Our Child

-Tyler Giddens #Bloggin

Week 2 Reflection

In studying genetics and inheritance, it has become clear to me that many of the genes passed down in the genotype are not clearly represented in the phenotype. The traits that are expressed are considered dominant, while those that are not seen are recessive. These alleles can be represented with a capital or lower case letter, representing its dominance. When these genes are being inherited, they form a certain combination of dominant and recessive alleles which dictate the traits in the phenotype. Earlier this week we performed a lab called Genetics with a Smile, with the purpose being for us to gain experience on how the different combinations of alleles come to form a being's appearance. In this lab, the students were given a list of possible traits, and were to flip a coin so that one of the options could be decided. The outcome of our lab is below. Dick Oliver is a male human with an oval face, blast shaped eyes, curly hair, pointed ears, up-facing nose, olive-tone face, red eyes, long hair, freckles, an orange nose, teal ears, and a thick, happy smile. Furthermore, this week we learned about sex-linked inheritance. We were taught how women can be carriers or simply have/not have the trait. We also learned about how when two equally dominant traits are combined in an offspring things like codominance and incomplete  dominance occur. This past week, I have become much more familiar with the topic that determines my traits; whether analyzing the work of Gregor Mendel and his pea plants, or calculating the probability of a specific trait appearing in a phenotype of an offspring.

Arman Sani #bloggin

Genetic Smiley

To whom this may concern,
In today's class, we flipped a coin to determine characteristics for our baby. The coin determined wether the trait would be dominant or recessive. We were able to create its face color, hair patterns, gender, freckles, mouth thickness, and eye shape. Tommy Knopf, my partner, and I had a beautiful baby. Lacolor Jones III.

Week: 2 Genetics

Dear fellow followers,
   
     This week, Mr. Wan  taught us Genetics. We did an experiment to demonstrate dominant and recessive genes. We flipped coins in oder to figure out what the outcome of or child would be. After completing the experiment, here is the final result. As you can tell our daughter is beautiful. #bloggin

Week 1 Reflection

     In our first week back from break we jumped right into the topic of meiosis. In the past few days I have become much more familiar with this topic and its different phases. The process of meiosis is similar to that of mitosis, but the outcomes are much different. I have learned that meiosis has eight steps, broken down into two phases. The second phase features similar steps as the first phase, except it has double the number of cells. Meiosis includes gametes which are sex cells, while mitosis includes somatic cells. I learned that meiosis begins with one diploid cell, and ends with four genetically different haploid cells. Finally, I now know that in the first phase of meiosis there is an exchange of genes called crossing over. Meiosis is a cellular process that is crucial to life, and creates the diversity among humans and many other species on this planet.
Arman Sani #bloggin

Week 1 Reflection

Dear fellow bloggers,
This week we learned a new topic named meiosis. It was a little hard to understand in the beginning, but i am starting to understand the new topic. I have come to understand that meiosis is a type of cell division that results in four daughter cells each with half the number of chromosomes of the parent cell, as in the production of gametes and plant spores. Meiosis is not like mitosis. Mitosis is asexual which means that it can recreate its own own cell with its own genetic info. Meiosis on the other hand, is sexual which means that it uses half of its own info and half of another cells info.

-Juan Urrutia #bloggin

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Week 1: Reflection

Dear fellow followers,

     

     This week in Mr. Wan's class we learned about meiosis. Meiosis is a type of cell division that results in four daughter cells each with half the number of chromosomes of the parent cells. We learned that meiosis is sexual unlike mitosis which is asexual. The two types of cells made from meiosis are the egg and the sperm. There is a total of eight steps in meiosis. Meiosis plays a huge role in life, and without it we wouldn't exist.

-Tommy Knopf #bloggin 

Week 1 Reflection

Tiburcio McGhee

To whom this may concern,

This week I learned about meiosis. Meiosis is a type of cell division that results in four daughter cells each with half the number of chromosomes of the parent cell. This process is used to produce gamete cells for sexual reproduction. It uses one diploid cells and goes through eight steps and makes four haploid cells that are not identical. #bloggin

Week 1 Reflection

Dear fellow bloggers,

In the first week of the second semester, Mr. Wan's biology class learned about Meiosis.  At first this subject was slightly confusing, but after a little bit of studying I began to understand it.  Like mitosis, meiosis begins with one diploid cell.  However, meiosis results in 4 genetically different cells while mitosis results in 2 identical cells.  Because meiosis creates 4 haploids, these daughter cells only have half the amount of chromosomes their parent cell has.  These sex cells known as gametes are necessary for sexual reproduction in eukaryotes.  Female gametes are called eggs and male gametes are called sperm.  When two gamete cells fuse together in the process of fertilization, a zygote is formed which then divides to produce offspring.

-Tyler Giddens #bloggin







Diagram of Meiosis