Download The Essence of Life

The Essence
of Life
The Essence
of Life
Blending Inheritance
A great idea if you IGNORE the data.

The Basic Idea of Blending Inheritance




1) Sex cells still contain the "essence of
the parents".
2) Offspring represent a mixture of the
"essence"of each parent Example:
Cross pollinate a red flower with a white
flower and you get a pink flower Example:
Cross pollinate a human female with a
human male …….and you get?
Ru Paul
So much for
the brilliant
idea of
blending
inheritance!
Gregor Mendel 1856
A monk with no social life but a good scientific mind.

Mendel's improved approach to
understanding inheritance:

1) Studied clear cut (non-ambiguous)
traits in pea plants, e.g. seed color,
seed shape, stem height etc.

2) Studied traits in pea plants that
were"true breeding", i.e. after
extensive self-pollination, offspring
have the same traitsas the parents.

3) He COUNTED the results of his
crosses with different pea plants.
Mendel's Experiment
Cross plants that breed true for tall stems with
plants that breed true for dwarf stems
Parent
Plants
F1
Generation
X
Mendel's Next Experiment
Cross the F 1 generation plants with each other
(Note: With humans, this is illegal in most states)
F1
Generation
X
F2
Generation
Mendel's Conclusions
Based on counting thousands pea plants.
(Remember he had no social life.)

Blending inheritance was a bogus idea
.

Heredity, therefore, was "particulate".

Each plant had two of these hereditary
"particles", "alleles" or "genes".

Sex cells contain only one of the two
hereditary "particles". The selection
of which hereditary particle makes it
into each sex cell is random.
Mendel's Experiment
True breeding
plants
DD
Tall
Genotype
Phenotype
dd
Dwarf
d
D
D
d
Mendel's Experiment
F1 Generation
Genotype = Dd
Phenotype = Tall
D
d
Mendel's Experiment
F1 Generation
Genotype = Dd
Phenotype = Tall
50/50
D
D
d
d
50/50
F1 Generation Cross
D
d
Dd
d
d
dd
D
D
DD
d
D
Dd
Dd X Dd
When the Data Don't Quite Fit,
Ignore Them!
The Expected Outcome for Genetic Inheritance
that Follows Mendelian Ratios
Parent #1 Breeds True
for Red Flowers
X
Parent #2 Breeds True
for White Flowers
F1 Generation are all either Red (if red is
dominant) or all White (if white is dominant).)
F2 Generation show a 3:1 ratio
of Dominant to Recessive Phenotype
You Know It's Going to be a Bad Gene Day
When...
Parent #1 Breeds True
for Red Flowers
X
Parent #2 Breeds True
for White Flowers
X
F1 Generation were all Pink
X
F2 Generation showed a 1:2:1 ratio
of Red to Pink to White!
Mendel's Solution to this Problem?
"I just won't think about this now.
I'll think about this tomorrow.
After all, tomorrow is another day. "
Partial Dominance
Parent #1 Breeds True
for Red Flowers
X
Parent #2 Breeds True
for White Flowers
RR
X
R'R'
F1 Generation were all Pink
RR'
F2 Generation showed a 1:2:1 ratio
of Red to Pink to White!
RR : RR' : R'R'
X
Customized Phenotype
Genetic Engineering
Genetic Engineering - NOT!
Shark DNA
OH
5' CCGC
3' GGP
P
GG 3'
CGCC 5'
OH
Tomato DNA
5' CCGC
3' GGP
P
OH
GG 3'
CGCC 5'
OH
What is the result of
ligating DNA from two
different species?
OH P
5' CCGC GG 3'
3' GGP CGCC
5'
OH
Food for the Planet
(Beyond The Joy of Chemistry)
The Biotech Revolution

Gains in agricultural production
thanks to the introduction of:
Genetically Engineered Life.
 Pest and Herbicide Resistance
 Increased Yield and Longer Shelf Life
 Drought and Cold Resistance
 Flavor and Nutritional Content
 Vaccine Production

Less Pesticides for
Safer Agriculture
The Cotton Boll
Worm is just one
of the reasons
cotton production
consumes more
agrochemicals
than any crop on
Earth.
Genetically Engineered
Cotton
Natural Cotton
Genetically engineered cotton reduces insecticide use.
Transgenic BT Cotton
Pest Resistant thanks to Bacillus thuringiensis
Wild Type “Natural” Cotton
BT “Engineered” Cotton
Transgenic BT Corn
Pest Resistant thanks to Bacillus thuringiensis
BT “Engineered” Corn
Wild Type “Natural” Corn
ACC Oxidase Gene Knockout
Slower Ripening with Higher
Nutritional Content
Natural Cantaloupe
60 days old
Engineered Cantaloupe
60 days old
Ethylene Receptor Knockout
Plants do not Ripen
(vegetables) or wilt (flowers)
100 Days
Genetically
Engineered
Tomato
Natural
Tomato
8 Days
Genetically
Engineered
Flower
Natural
Flower
Potatoes genetically engineered to produce
human vaccines enable third world farmers
to immunize people even where health care
is otherwise nonexistent.
The Biotech
Revolution
Doesn't Stop
With the
Green Giant
Dangerous
bacteria can
be genetically
programmed
to target and
kill cancer
cells.
Genetically Engineered
Cancer Drugs (Endostatin)
Blood Vessels in
Healthy Tissue
Blood Vessels in
Cancerous Tissue
Endostatin starves cancers by preventing
the growth of new blood vessels.
Endostatin
Treated
Untreated
Cloning
Cloned Goats Produce
Human Anti-thrombin III
in their Milk (To Treat
Coagulation Disease)
Transgenic Goat
Chromosomes
Blue dots are Human Anti-Thrombin III
Genes on Goat Chromosomes
When will WE be Cloned?
Clones
Already
Walk
Among Us
We have
the
Technology
Embryo
Screening
The Leading Edge of
Genetic Technology
C’est Fini
Thank you for your attention.
Any questions?
Contact Information
Phillip B. Danielson
University of Denver
Department of Biological Sciences
2101 E. Wesley Avenue Rm. 211
Denver, CO 80210
Email: [email protected]
Tel: (303) 871-3561