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What is known about the
genetics of Tenebrio
molitor?
question answered by jordan yaron
What is Genetics?
Genetics is the basis for what makes everybody
and everything individual and unique.
The DNA (information held within
chromosomes) from two different organisms
are combined to create one unique organism.
Popularized by Gregor Mendel in 1865
DNA? Chromosomes?
DNA is deoxyribonucleic acid.
The double helix - The basis for life
Read by the body like a line of “code.”
Chromosomes are genetic carriers
Tightly wound structures of DNA
This is how DNA is contained within cells (10,000 to
1,000,000,000 nucleotides - letters of code)
11001101
00101101
00110110
01101001
adenine
guanine
cytosine
thymine
Our friend, the Mealworm
In 1905, Nettie M. Stevens reinforced, via experiments on T.
molitor, the concept of sex/gender determination based on
dominant and recessive chromosomes
T. molitor contains 10 pairs of chromosomes (20 total, versus
the 23 pairs/46 total in humans)
Males have a smaller, recessive chromosome in one pair
(the “Y” chromosome)
Thus, males are “XY” and females are “XX”
Source: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/389882
What else?
Other studies have shown that T. molitor’s genetics follow the
general dominant-recessive principle:
The color of the hard outer layer (cuticle) has been linked to
genetic inheritence
Source: (Armitage, et al: http://www.nature.com/hdy/journal/v94/n6/full/6800675a.html)
Interestingly, there are links between the color of the cuticle,
and naturally inherited pathogen (germ) resistance in T.
molitor
Source: (Armitage, et al: http://www.nature.com/hdy/journal/v94/n6/full/6800675a.html)
Occasionally, there exist “XYY” T. molitor, with two male-sex
chromosomes; while this is considered a complicated system,
it has not been shown to differentiate the selection of males
and females
Source: (Kido, et al:
http://www.journalarchive.jst.go.jp/english/jnlabstract_en.php?cdjournal=pjab1977&cdvol=61&noiss
ue=8&startpage=368)
My Question for You...
•
We now know that examples of genetic
inheritance in T. molitor are sex and color.
•
Based on the genetics of Tenebrio molitor,
what are some possible characteristics in
humans that could be related to genetic
inheritance?