Unit Objectives: Genetics

At the conclusion of this unit, you should be able to:

1) List several features of Mendels methods that contributed to his success and state four components of
Mendels hypothesis of inheritance.
2) Describe a testcross and explain how it is useful in breeding experiments.
3) Describe Mendels laws of segregation and independent assortment. Relate these laws to our
understanding of the events of meiosis and explain how these events result in genetic variation.
4) Distinguish between genotype and phenotype, heterozygous and homozygous, dominant and recessive
traits.
5) Describe how the laws of probability are used to calculate the chances of an individual having a specific
genotype or phenotype.
6) Use a Punnett square to predict the results of monohybrid and dihybrid crosses and to calculate the
phenotypic and genotypic ratios of each.
7) Define and give examples of traits displaying incomplete dominance and codominance.
8) Describe the inheritance of the ABO blood system and explain why the A and B alleles are said to be codominant.
9) Define polygenic inheritance. Explain how quantitative analysis can be used to predict traits that display
polygenic inheritance.
10) Given a simple family pedigree or information about a familys genotypes/phenotypes, identify the
pattern of inheritance and deduce unknown genotypes.
11) Explain how a lethal recessive gene can be maintained in a population and why lethal dominant genes are
much rarer than lethal recessive ones.
12) Explain why consanguinity increases the probability of homozygosity in the offspring.
13) Describe the inheritance patterns and phenotypic effects of Tay Sachs disease, sickle cell anemia and
Huntingtons disease
14) Explain how errors in meiosis can result in monosomy, trisomy and polyploidy. Give examples of human
diseases caused by monosomy and trisomy (including a description of how the disease alters phenotype)
and effects of polyploidy in phenotypes of plants.
15) Explain the inheritance of sex-linked traits and why these traits are more commonly observed in male
offspring. Give examples of sex-linked diseases in humans.
16) Explain the relationship between the frequency of crossing over and the location of genes on a
chromosome.
17) Explain how data from test crosses can be used to determine whether 2 genes are linked on the same
homologous chromosome or are located on separate chromosomes and relate the data to events of
meiosis.
18) Calculate recombination frequencies from testcross data and use the frequencies to determine relative
gene locations of linked genes.
19) Describe the use of the Chi Square test in studying data from genetic crosses.
20) Describe the role of environmental factors in the expression of an organisms genotype using human
height and weight as an example.
21) Describe how a genome can exhibit a flexible response by explaining the relationship between the
expression of dark fur coloring on the feet and ears of a Himalayan rabbit and the environmental
temperature.