Download Genetic Variation in Monsters

Genetic Variation
Variation of Traits
Genetic Variation in Monsters
Activity
Children resemble their parents. Half of your genes
come from your mother and half come from your father.
Genes come in pairs. You got one chromosome of
each pair from your mother and one from your father.
Along each chromosome are genes, one for each trait.
This means that you have two copies of each gene, one
from your mother and one from your father. Both genes
of a pair deal with the same trait, but they might differ in
their information about it. For instance, one gene for
eye color might say green while the other one says
brown. These varieties of genes are called alleles.
Procedure
1.  The picture shows a male and female monster, each with different genetic traits.
2.  Your teacher will give your group a bag with a number of chromosomes.
3.  Remove the chromosomes from the bag.
4.  Match the chromosomes according to their numbers.
5.  Make sure you have a Mom and Dad for each of the 3 chromosomes.
6.  Use the chart to record your data.
Chromosome
Pair Number
Trait
1
Horn
Genotype
Dominant or
Recessive
Phenotype
Genotype
Dominant or
Recessive
Phenotype
Genotype
Dominant or
Recessive
Phenotype
Whiskers
Fangs
Chromosome
Pair Number
Trait
2
Claws
Tail
Fur
Chromosome
Pair Number
Trait
3
Eyebrows
Nose
Eyes
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Genetic Variation
Variation of Traits
Genetic Variation in Monsters
Activity, continued
7.  Start with chromosome #1. Record the capital or lower case letter in the genotype column from
both the Mom and the Dad. Be sure to record the letters as they appear on the individual
chromosomes as either capital or lower case. A genotype is the genetic make-up of an
organism and is based on the gene variants, or alleles, provided by each of the parents. An
allele is one type of variant of a gene. In this case, a monster can have a short tail allele or a
long tail allele as a variant of the tail length gene.
8.  Determine if you have a dominant or a recessive trait. Dominant traits show up in the offspring
whenever present and are represented by a capital letter in genetic charts. Dominate traits
would be present in the following examples using the letter x : XX and Xx. Recessive traits only
show up if dominant traits are absent and are represented by a lowercase letter. Recessive
traits would be present in the following examples using the letter x : xx. The phenotype of an
offspring is the physical appearance, or expressed genetic traits, of an organism. Use the key
below to determine the phenotype and record it.
9.  Use the phenotype of the offspring to draw and color the baby monster. Label the drawing as
“Phenotype”.
Key to Monster Genes
H = 1 horn
h = 2 horns
W= 3 whiskers
w = 2 whiskers
F= short fangs
f = long fangs
C = 3 claws
c = 4 claws
T = short tail
t = long tail
B = brown fur
b = grey fur
N = triangle nose
n = oval nose
P = purple eyes
p = blue eyes
E = smooth eyebrows
e = spikey eyebrows
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Genetic Variation
Variation of Traits
Genetic Variation in Monsters
Activity, continued
10. Write the genotype of the baby monster next to the drawing and label “Genotype”.
11. Replace the chromosomes in the bag.
12. Answer the following questions.
1.  How many dominant traits does your monster have?
2. How many recessive traits does your monster have?
3. How many different alleles for tails are present?
4. Look at all the monsters at your table. Are any exactly alike? Explain.
5. Is your monster exactly like the mom or dad monster? Explain.
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