VANDERBILT STUDENT VOLUNTEERS FOR SCIENCE

http://studentorgs.v nder!"#t.edu/vsvs

Inheritance Patterns in Dragons

Spring 2006 Adapted from Reebops lesson, Girls and Science Camp

Purpose (Optional story)

Dragons are a curious type of creature. Amazingly, t oug , t eir genetics is !ery similar to t at of umans. "agrid, t e Game#eeper at "og$arts, $is es to de!elop a erd of dragons for is Care of %agical Creatures class. &nfortunately, e only as t$o dragons as of no$. ' e purpose of t is acti!ity is to determine $ at #inds of dragons "agrid $ill a!e in is erd $ en (and if) is t$o dragons decide to mate.

Background
*nterestingly, dragons ma#e good tools for t e in!estigation of meiosis. Students $ill +create, baby dragons gi!en genotypes t at t ey determine by selecting paper c romosomes. -ac cell in all li!ing organisms contains ereditary information t at is encoded by a molecule called D.A (deo/yribonucleic acid). (Show students the model of DNA) D.A is an e/tremely long molecule. 0 en t is long, s#inny D.A molecule is all coiled up and bunc ed toget er it is called a c romosome. ( Show students the picture of a chromosome) -ac c romosome is a separate piece of D.A, so a cell $it eig t c romosomes as eig t long pieces of D.A. A gene is a segment of t e long D.A molecule. Different genes may be different lengt s. -ac gene is a code for o$ a certain molecule can be made. ' e molecules produced by t e genes can generally be sorted into t$o different types1 ones t at run t e c emical reactions in your body, and ones t at $ill be t e structural components of your body. "o$ an organism loo#s and functions is a result of t e cumulati!e effect of all t e molecules. Any organism t at as +parents, as an e!en number of c romosomes, because alf of t e c romosomes come from t e +fat er, and t e ot er alf from t e +mot er., 2or e/ample, in plants, a pollen grain is t e +fat er3s, contribution and an o!ule is t e +mot er3s, contribution.

' ese t$o cells combine to ma#e a single cell, $ ic $ill gro$ into a seed (t e offspring). "umans a!e 46 c romosomes. ' e c romosomes sort into 25 pairs. 6ne c romosome in eac of t e 25 pairs is from t e person3s fat er, t e ot er from t e person3s mot er. Since c romosomes come in pairs, genes do too. 6ne gene is located on one member of c romosome pair, t e ot er gene is in t e same location on t e opposite c romosome. ' e gene +pair, is tec nically referred to as a gene, as bot members of t e pair code for t e same trait. A gene can consist of a !ariety of different forms, but only t$o forms are e!er present per gene (one from t e mot er, t e ot er from t e fat er). ' e t$o different gene forms on t e pair of c romosomes may be identical or different. ' e different forms t at comprise a gene are called alleles.

Materials (for

! students)

70 bo/es of crayons (24 crayons per bo/) 78 sets of trait strips (74 strips in eac set) 78 Dragon 9eys and +"o$ to Dra$ Dragon :arts, (in s eet protectors) 50 Dragon 0or#s eets 7 D.A model 7 picture of c romosome

"nformation
-ac partner s ould eac a!e a set of different colored c romosomes. (*t does not matter $ o gets $ ic color, as long as eac person as a different color.) 'ell t e students t at1 6ne set of strips represent t e c romosomes from t e mot er (female) dragon. ' e ot er set represents c romosomes from t e fat er (male) dragon. -ac S'R*: represents a C"R6%6S6%-. -ac strip as a letter, ; eit er uppercase or lo$ercase. ' e uppercase letters represent a 2

D6%*.A.' form of t e trait and t e lo$ercase letters represent t e R-C-SS*<- form. -ac :A*R of letters codes for a 'RA*' (or, scientifically, an A==-=-). A D6%*.A.' trait $ill be present if t e &::-RCAS- letter is present. A R-C-SS*<- trait occurs only $ en >6'" lo$ercase letters are c osen. ' e traits are sorted so t at t ey are matc ed into same sized pairs and same letters of t e alp abet. ?ou s ould a!e @ pairs of same size strips (c romosomes $ ose letters code for traits) for bot t e male and female. ' e letters represent different traits. fire. +A, and +a, represent $ et er or not t e dragon breat es +%, and +m, represent t e number of toes. +A, and +B, represent t e number of tail spi#es. +', and +t, represent t e color of t e tail. +-, and +e, represent t e color of t e body. +=, and +l, represent t e color of t e $ings. +D, and +d, represent $ et er or not t e dragon as a orn.

#$periment
'ell t e students to ta#e t e longest pair of one color of c romosomes (male) and t e longest pair of t e ot er color of c romosomes (female) and place t em 2AC- D60. on t eir des#s so t at t ey cannot see t e letter. 0*'"6&' '&R.*.G '"- C"R6%6S6%-S 6<-R, pic# one c romosome of t e longest size from one color, and pic# one c romosome of t e longest size of t e ot er color. :ut t ese in t e middle as one ne$ pair. ?our partner $ill ta#e t e remaining pair for isC er dragon baby.

Continue doing t is, ta#ing one from eac pair from longest to s ortest. ?ou and your partner s ould end up $it se!en ne$ traitsD eac pair is one color c romosome and one of t e ot er color c romosome (strip). 'urn o!er t e c romosomes t at remain on your table. ' ese represent a ne$ EbabyE dragonF 6n t e DA'AS"--', record t e letter found on t e first color of c romosomes in t e %ale Gene column. Record t e letter found on t e second color of c romosomes in t e 2emale Gene column. >e sure you copy t e letters e/actly, uppercase or lower%case. '"*S *S *%:6R'A.'F After filling out t e DA'A S"--', return all c romosomes to t eir proper bags. Determine t e G-.6'?:- by combining t e 2 letters. o Determine if t e trait is dominant or recessi!e.

Record t e :"-.6'?:- for eac c aracteristic, using t e 9-? pro!ided. Record t is on t e dragon 0or#s eet. .o$ color and add parts to t e baby dragon.

Dragon &ey
Phenotype breat es fire does not breat e fire 4 toes 5 toes 8 spi#es on tail 4 spi#es on tail red tail yello$ tail blue body and ead green body and ead red $ings yello$ $ings orn no orn 'enotype AA or Aa aa %% or %m mm AA or AB BB '' or 't tt -- or -e ee == or =l ll DD or Dd dd

Dragon (orksheet
Data S eet %ale Gene (7 color)
st

2emale Gene (2nd color)

)rait 2ireC.o fire (ACa3s) 'oes (%Cm3s) Spi#es on tail (ACB3s) 'ail color ('Ct3s) >ody color (-Ce3s) 0ing color (=Cl3s) "ornCno orn (DCd3s)

'enotype

Phenotype

Analysis*+uestions
Compare your dragon to ot er dragons around t e room. 0 at differences and similarities do you seeG

"o$ do you e/plain all of t e differences, e!en t oug t e dragons all ad t e same set of parentsG

How to Draw Dragon Parts

Here are some examples of parts that you may have to add to your dragon: Horn Genotype: DD or Dd (dd = no horn)

Ability to breathe fire Genotype: AA or Aa (aa = unable to breathe fire)

Number of toes Genotype for 4 toes: MM or Mm Genotype for 3 toes: mm All dragons ha e at least 3 toes!

Number of tail spi"es Genotype for # tail spi"es: $$ or $% Genotype for 4 tail spi"es: %% All dragons ha e at least 4 tail spi"es!