BICD 100: Genetics

Dr. Keefe Reuther

Office: HSS 1145D
kdreuther@ucsd.edu

Basic Course Info

Course Website is on TED
Course information and syllabus
Lecture PDFs
Announcements
Discussion Board
Contact information

Class is available on videocast @

podcast.ucsd.edu

Required Materials
Essentials of Genetics by Klug,
Cummings, Spencer, and Palladino, 8th
edition.
MasteringGenetics, a web-based
resource, available from the textbook
publisher (Pearson).
Course ID: MGENREUTHER91695

Section sign up
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Check syllabus. Not all Blink
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Exams
ONLY excuse to miss a test is hospitalization or
serious family emergency (only unplanned
events count with valid documentation)
Religious conflict/OSD accommodation you
must talk to me this week.
No weddings, parties, vacations, excuses

GRADING:
Midterm Exams (100 points each)
Final Exam
Problem Sets (15 points each)
Case It Assignment
TOTAL

200 points
250 points
105 points
40 points
595 points

Extra Credit Surveys!!!!

> (85%) A-, A or A+
> (75%) B-, B or B+
> (65%) C-, C or C+
> (55%) D
If necessary, these cutoffs will be adjusted downward so
that at least 50% of students in the class receive an A or a
B, but they will not be adjusted upward for any reason.

How to do well in this course

Attend lectures and take notes
Go over those notes and text soon after lecture.
Rewrite and organize notes. Supplement with
book
Attend sections and ask questions.
Practice, practice, practice

Cheating

Final Things
What can be on the test?
Anything in lecture.
Use common sense
You are not responsible for material received
outside of lecture; however, I will test you with
application and conceptual questions. Therefore
you will need to take the information learned in
lecture and be able to use it in new and creative
ways.

Evolution
Evolution is a change in the genetic composition
of a population over time (across generations)

Population group of individuals from the same

species that live in the same area and have the
potential to mate
Devils hole pupfish

Northern flicker

Allele A specific variant of a

gene. Different individuals of a
species have the same genes,
but may have different alleles.

Example: Sickle cell anemia allele

3 steps of microevolution
1. Variation in a trait exists within
populations
2. Traits are heritable (DNA)
3. Not all offspring reproduce equally
Evolution = change in the genetic
composition of a population

1 - Variation exists in populations

Peppered moths on a white tree

2 Variation in traits is heritable

3 - Not all individuals reproduce equally

Peppered moths on a white tree

A change in the frequency of a trait

that has a genetic basis (black moths
become rarer)
= EVOLUTION!!!

Pre-Industrial
Revolution

Industrial
Revolution

As the environment changes, so does the benefit

of being a black moth

Grant et al. (1996) J. of Heredity 87(5):351

Natural Selection
Differential success in reproduction
Results in favored alleles increasing in
frequency in future generations
Adaptation

Darwin and the Voyage of the Beagle

1831-1836

What does Origin say?

1. All organisms evolved from
common ancestor - descent with
modification
2. Mechanism - natural selection differential survival/reproduction
(individuals with certain traits
survive/reproduce more than
individuals without those traits)
Profoundly challenged prevailing world view

In other words
1. Evolution as fact
Pattern
Accepted quickly

2. Natural selection drives adaptation

Process
Rejected initially

Summary
1. Evolution as fact
Pattern
Accepted quickly

2. Natural selection drives adaptation

Process
Rejected initially

Why was natural selection rejected by the

scientific community?

Principles of Natural Selection

1. Variation within a trait
2. Variation is heritable
3. Not all individuals reproduce equally

Why Natural Selection Wasnt Initially Accepted

1. The earth was too young

2. No mechanism for the creation of novel
variation
3. No mechanism for the inheritance of
adaptations
Next Step: Resolve these 3 issues and modern
evolutionary theory is born

2 - Thomas Morgan and Mutation

Worked with fruit flies
(Drosophila melanogaster)
Previously, mutations were
thought to be large, causing
speciation or new
morphological features
Morgan quantified
mutation, its mechanism,
and its effect on the body
Received Nobel Prize in
1933.

Wildtype

Mutant

3 Mechanism of inheritence

 Any beneficial
adaptation will be
diluted and
eventually disappear

3 - Weissman and Lamarckism

Infamous mouse tail
clipping experiment
Debunked soft
inheritance
Inherited characters are
from genes of successful
parents

F1

F1

F2

F2

Inheritance
Gregor Mendel and his pea plants

Experimental genetics began in an abbey

garden

Gregor Mendel discovered principles of

genetics in experiments with the garden
pea
Mendel showed that parents pass heritable
factors to offspring (heritable factors are
now called genes)

Copyright 2009 Pearson Education, Inc.

Gregor Mendels breakthrough:

principles of inheritance
Age 21 became a monk
Returned to school at age 29:
University of Vienna
Returned to the monastery
scientifically trained
Performed well-controlled
experiments that
revolutionized our
understanding of inheritance
Findings published in 1866
1822-1884

Mendels Postulates
Genes are found in alternative versions called alleles
Genotype is the listing of alleles an individual carries
for a specific gene
1. For each characteristic, an organism inherits two
alleles, one from each parent; the alleles can be
the same or different
A homozygous genotype has identical alleles
A heterozygous genotype has two different alleles

Copyright 2009 Pearson Education, Inc.

Mendels Postulates
2. If the alleles differ, the dominant allele
determines the organisms appearance, and
the recessive allele has no noticeable effect
The phenotype is the appearance or expression of a
trait
The same phenotype may be determined by more
than one genotype

3. Law of segregation: Allele pairs separate

(segregate) from each other during the
production of gametes so that a sperm or egg
carries only one allele for each gene

38

1 trait cross

Geneticists use the testcross to determine unknown

genotypes
Testcross
Mating between an individual of unknown genotype and
a homozygous recessive individual
Will show whether the unknown genotype includes a
recessive allele
Used by Mendel to confirm true-breeding genotypes

Copyright 2009 Pearson Education, Inc.

Testcross:
B_

Genotypes

bb

Two possibilities for the black dog:

BB

Gametes
b
Offspring

Bb

or

Bb
All black

Bb

bb

1 black : 1 chocolate

Dihybrid cross = following 2 traits

(yellow and round = dominant)

Figure 3-7

Draw a Punnett square of a GgWw X

GgWw dihybrid cross
figure out gamete combinations for top and
side of square
fill in possible outcomes of fertilization of
those gametes

Dihybrid cross Punnett square

Figure 3-7

Mendels 4th postulate

Independent assortment
During gamete formation, segregating pairs of unit
factors (genes) assort independently of each
other.*

* sometimes

How many gametes can be made

by F1 of dihybrid cross?

2 independently assorting genes,

2 alleles each
GW

Gw

gW

gw

4 different types of gametes can be made

2X2=4

Trihybrid cross: 3 independent

monohybrid crosses

How many different kinds of

gametes can be made
by the F1 population? Phenotypes?

Independent assortment creates

extensive genetic variation
number of possible gametes, each
with different chromosome
compositions:
2n, where n is the haploid number of
chromosomes
for humans (n=23), this is 8 million!
fertilization is two gametes
8 million X 8 million
64 X 1012 combinations

Question: How many different

a) 2
b) 3
c) 4
d) 6
e) 8

types of gametes can be

formed by the genotype
DdEeFF ?