Keaton, Noah AP Biology - Period 2 Dr.

Gottfried January 23, 2013 Mendelian Genetics Sporks and Beads Activity Part A Questions For Discussion: 1. How close did your actual results come to your expected results? What caused the difference? Compared to the expected results, our actual results were very close in approximation. The results for the heterozygous genes came in at 25/50 which was 50%, the exact same as the expected probability. The results for the homozygous dominant and recessive genes came in at a 3% difference from the expected probability. An explanation for this difference is in the definition of probability. Probability is the extent to which something is likely to happen meaning that the expected probability of 50% is what will most likely will be the outcome, but in practice it wont come out exact. 2. What fraction of actual PP, Pp, pp did you record? How close is it to the ratio Mendel predicted? The fractions of the genes that were recorded are 11/50 for PP, 25/50 for Pp, and 14/50 for pp. The ratio that Mendel predicted is 3:1. 3 being the dominant phenotype and 1 being the recessive phenotype. The 3:1 ratio can scale to 75:25, and our results came in at a ratio of 36:14 which can scale up to 72:28. This ratio came out really close to Mendels ratio. 3. How can you determine if your results fit your expected probability? Do it for both your results and the class results. Part B Questions For Discussion: 1. How close did your actual results come to your expected results? Compared to the expected results, out actual results were also close in approximation. The results for the double homozygous dominant (PP/RR) or double heterozygous (Pp/Rr) were 28 and the expected was 28.1. For the PP/Pp-rr, the results were 10 compared to the 9.3 expected. For the pp-RR/Rr, the result was 8 and the expected probability was 9.3. Last, the result for the double recessive (pprr) was 4 which was close to the compared to the expected 3.1. 2. What fraction of actual phenotypes did you record, how many Spoon/Red, Spoon/Yellow, Spork/Red, Spork Yellow? How close is it to the expected ratio Mendel predicted? The actual phenotypes were addressed in the previous answered. All of the results came in close to the expected ratio Mendel predicted; within two tallies of the the expected. 3. How can you know if your experimental results fit the prediction? (Think X2) Do it for both your results and the class results. Conclusion/Purpose Questions: 1. What is probability?

Probability is the likelihood of the occurrence of something. An example would be the probability, or chances, of a person winning the lottery. 2. What does random mean and how does it apply to genetics? Random means an occurrence that happens without it being controlled or decided. Randomness applies to genetics in things such as crossing over and independent assortment which allows for more genetic variation. 3. How does probability relate to the Punnett Square and the offspring that are shown? Probability is related because in practice there are probabilities other than the expected probability, that is why the actual probability differs from the expected probability. 4. How can we know if our mental model is matched by our experiment?