Lets Make Babies

No sex involved! A seatwork activity for Genetics class

Trait Brown eyes Freckles Tongue rolling Dimples Earlobe attachment Widow s peak

Dominant Brown (BB or Bb) Freckles (FF or Ff) Can roll (RR or Rr) Dimples (DD or Dd) Unattached (EE or Ee)

Recessive Non brown (bb) No freckles (ff) Can t roll (rr) No dimples (dd) Attached (ee)

Widow s peak (WW or Ww)

Straight hairline (ww)

Cleft chin Hair color

Cleft chin (CC or Cc) Dark (HH or Hh)

Smooth chin (cc) Light (hh)

TABLE No. 1
Trait Brown eyes Freckles Tongue rolling Dimples Earlobes Widow s peak Cleft chin Hair color Hair texture Dominant Brown (BB or Bb) Freckles (FF or Ff) Can roll (RR or Rr) Dimples (DD or Dd) Unattached (EE or Ee) Widow s peak (WW or Ww) Cleft chin (CC or Cc) Dark (HH or Hh) Curly (TT) Recessive Non brown (bb) No freckles (ff) Can t roll (rr) No dimples (dd) Attached (ee) Straight hairline (ww) Smooth chin (cc) Light (hh) Wavy (Tt) Straight (tt) Phenotype Genotype

Write your phenotype and the corresponding genotype. If you have nonbrown eyes, for example, then write under phenotype Non-brown and under the genotype bb. If you can roll your tongue, write Can Roll under phenotype and either RR (homologous) or Rr (heterozygous). Choose RR if you are confident that everyone in your family/clan can roll their tongue. If you are unsure, write Rr. Same principle applies to the rest of the traits.

Choose a Partner
Decide who will be the sperm donor and the egg donor. Once you have decided who will be the sperm or egg donor, start making your sperm or egg.

EGG No. 1
Trait Brown eyes Freckles Tongue rolling Dimples Earlobe attachment Allele

EGG No. 2
Trait Brown eyes Freckles Tongue rolling Dimples Earlobe attachment Allele

Widow s peak Cleft chin Hair color Hair texture

Widow s peak Cleft chin Hair color Hair texture

From your list of genotypes (Table 1), decide which allele will go to which Egg or Sperm. You can do this by tossing a coin. If Heads, the first allele will go to Egg/Sperm No. 1; if tails, the first allele will go to Egg/Sperm No. 2. For Example, if your genotype for Brown eyes is Bb, the toss a coin to check which egg or sperm will get the first allele (which is B). The remaining allele (b) will obviously go to the remaining egg or sperm.

SPERM No. 1
Trait Brown eyes Freckles Tongue rolling Dimples Earlobe attachment Allele

SPERM No. 2
Trait Brown eyes Freckles Tongue rolling Dimples Earlobe attachment Allele

Widow s peak Cleft chin Hair color Hair texture Gender

Widow s peak Cleft chin Hair color Hair texture Gender

If you are the sperm donor, add the Gender trait in your column. Toss a coin to randomly assign a gender to your sperm. If heads, assign the Male gender to the sperm. If tails, assign the Female gender to the sperm.

Baby No. 1: Name

Trait Brown eyes Freckles Tongue rolling Dimples Earlobe attachment Widow s peak Cleft chin Hair color Hair texture Gender Genotype Phenotype

With your chosen partner, combine your Gamete No. 1 with his/her Gamete No. 1. Or you can toss a coin. If Heads, combine your first gamete to his/her first gamete. If tails, combine your first gamete to his/her second gamete. Combine the alleles to form the genotype and identify the appropriate phenotype. For example, if Sperm No. 1 contains B, and Egg No. 1 contains also B, then the genotype of Baby No. 1 is BB and the phenotype therefore is Brown eyes.