Dragon Genetics Worksheet #1:



Inheritance Patterns in Dragons

Purpose

Dragons are a curious type of creature. Amazingly, though, their genetics is very similar to that of humans. Hagrid, the Gamekeeper at Hogwarts, wishes to develop a herd of dragons for his Care of Magical Creatures class. Unfortunately, he only has two dragons as of now. The purpose of this activity is to determine what kinds of dragons Hagrid will have in his herd when (and if) his two dragons decide to mate.

Background

Interestingly, dragons make good tools for the investigation of meiosis. You will “create” baby dragons given genotypes that they determine by selecting paper chromosomes.

Each cell in all living organisms contains hereditary information that is encoded by a molecule called DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid). DNA is an extremely long molecule. When this long, skinny DNA molecule is all coiled up and bunched together it is called a chromosome. Each chromosome is a separate piece of DNA, so a cell with eight chromosomes has eight long pieces of DNA. A gene is a segment of the long DNA molecule. Different genes may be different lengths. Each gene is a code for a certain trait. Any organism that has “parents” has an even number of chromosomes, because half of the chromosomes come from the “father” and the other half from the “mother.” For example, in plants, a pollen grain is the “father’s” contribution and an ovule is the “mother’s” contribution. These two cells combine to make a single cell, which will grow into a seed (the offspring).

Humans have 46 chromosomes. The chromosomes sort into 23 pairs (homologous). One chromosome in each of the 23 pairs is from the person’s father, the other from the person’s mother. Since chromosomes come in pairs, genes do too. One gene is located on one member of chromosome pair, the other gene is in the same location on the opposite chromosome. The gene “pair” is technically referred to as a gene, as both members of the pair code for the same trait. A gene can consist of a variety of different forms, but only two forms are ever present per gene (one from the mother, the other from the father). The two different gene forms on the pair of chromosomes may be identical (homozygous) or different (heterozygous). The different forms that comprise a gene are called alleles.

1. Relate chromosomes and DNA molecules.

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2. Relate chromosomes and genes.

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3. Relate genes and alleles.

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4. Explain why the organisms have even number of chromosomes.

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5. Differentiate between homozygous and heterozygous.

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Dragon Genetics Worksheet

“I’m All Keyed Up”

Instructions

Refer to the key below, and answer the following questions.

|Dragon Key |

| |

|Upper case letter represent dominant alleles; |

|lowercase letters represent recessive alleles |

|N = LONG NECK |E = RED EYE (Incomplete Dominant) |

|n = short neck |e = white eye |

|H = HORN PRESENT |F = FIRE BREATHING |

|h = horn absent |f = not fire breathing |

|G = GREEN BODY(Incomplete Dominance) |L = LONG TAIL(Incomplete Dominant) |

|g = grey body |l = short tail |

|S = SPIKES ON END OF TAIL |R = RED WINGS(Co-dominant) |

|s = no spikes on end of tail |Y = YELLOW WINGS |

|T = THREE TOES |W = YELLOW BELLY |

|t = four toes |w = white belly |

|B = BLACK TAIL SPIKES (Co-dominant) |K = FRECKLES |

|R = RED TAIL SPIKES (Co-dominant) |k = no freckles |

| |Y = Y chromosome / EAR FRILLS |

|A = TYPE A BLOOD (Co-dominant) |X = X chromosome / no ear frills |

|B = TYPE B BLOOD(Co-dominant) | |

|i = TYPE O BLOOD | |

A capital letter is used to represent a dominant trait. A lower case letter is used to represent a recessive trait. Dominant traits completely mask recessive traits. Incomplete dominant traits partially mask recessive traits. Co-dominant traits show up together.

1. What letters are used to represent wing color? ____________________________________________

2. What letters are used to represent neck length? ____________________________________________

3. The letter “Y” is used as a symbol to represent ____________________________________________

4. The letter “e” is used to represent _______________________________________________________

5. List six dominant traits shown in the key. _________________________________________________

6. List six recessive traits shown in the key. _________________________________________________

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“Would Someone Please Take Charge?”

INSTRUCTIONS

Using the dragon key as a reference, fill in the genotypes and phenotypes of your parent dragons in the tables and then draw them (one parent at least should be hetrozygous)

My Dragons (Parents): Dad

|Trait |Genotypes |Phenotypes |

| |Symbols for Alleles |Appearance |

|Neck size | | |

|Number of toes | | |

|Wings color | | |

|Tail spikes(present or absent) | | |

|Body color | | |

|Eye color | | |

|Horn? (present or absent) | | |

|Fire breathing? | | |

|Belly color | | |

|Blood type | | |

|freckles | | |

|Tail length | | |

|Color of tail spikes | | |

|Gender, ear frills | | |

Mom

|Trait |Genotypes |Phenotypes |

| |Symbols for Alleles |Appearance |

|Neck size | | |

|Number of toes | | |

|Wings color | | |

|Tail spikes(present or absent) | | |

|Body color | | |

|Eye color | | |

|Horn? (present or absent) | | |

|Fire breathing? | | |

|Belly color | | |

|Blood type | | |

|freckles | | |

|Tail length | | |

|Color of tail spikes | | |

|Gender, ear frills | | |

Preparation:

1. Using a pink highlighter, color the set of strips in the chromosome page for mother (female) dragon. Using a blue highlighter, color the set of strips in the chromosome page for father (male) dragon.

2. Cut along the strips in both mother and father pages, so you have 13 homologous (similar) pairs for each parent.

3. Each STRIP represents a CHROMOSOME. Write the genotype of each trait on the back of the homologous chromosomes, a letter on the back of each strip.

Activity:

1. Place the two sets FACE DOWN on your desk so that you cannot see the letters.

2. WITHOUT TURNING THE CHROMOSOMES OVER, pick a pink chromosome of each trait. Put them in the middle as the mother gamete.

3. Pick a blue chromosome of each trait. Put them in the middle as the father gamete.

4. Pair up the two gametes (male and female) to form the baby dragon chromosomes.

5. You and your partner should end up with 13 new homologous chromosomes (13 new traits); each pair is one pink chromosome and one blue chromosome (strip).

6. On the DATASHEET of baby dragon 1, record the letter found on the blue chromosomes in the Paternal Chromosome (Male Gene) column. Record the letter found on the pink chromosomes in the Maternal Chromosome (Female Gene) column. Be sure you copy the letters exactly, uppercase or lower-case. THIS IS IMPORTANT!

7. After filling out the DATA SHEET, return all chromosomes to their proper bags.

8. Determine the GENOTYPE by combining the 2 letters of each trait.

9. Record the PHENOTYPE for each characteristic, using the KEY provided. Record this on the dragon Worksheet.

10. Now draw the baby dragon.

11. Repeat steps 3-11 to create two more baby dragons

Chromosome Page

For Father

Chromosome Page

For Mother

Baby Dragon 1 Worksheet

Baby Dragon 1 Worksheet

Data Sheet

|Paternal Chromosome(Male Gene) Blue color |Maternal Chromosome (Female Gene) pink color |

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|Trait |Genotype |Phenotype |

|Neck size | | |

|Number of toes | | |

|Wings | | |

|Tail spikes(present or absent) | | |

| | | |

|Body color | | |

|Eye color | | |

|Horn? (present or absent) | | |

|Fire breathing? | | |

|Belly color | | |

|Color of tail spikes | | |

|freckles | | |

|Tail length | | |

|Gender, ear frills | | |

|Blood type | | |

Baby Dragon 2 Worksheet

Data Sheet

|Male Gene (Blue color) |Female Gene (pink color) |

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| | |

|Trait |Genotype |Phenotype |

|Neck size | | |

|Number of toes | | |

|Wings | | |

|Tail spikes(present or absent) | | |

|Body color | | |

|Eye color | | |

|Horn? (present or absent) | | |

|Fire breathing? | | |

|Belly color | | |

|Color of tail spikes | | |

|freckles | | |

|Tail length | | |

|Gender, ear frills | | |

|Blood Type | | |

Baby Dragon 3 Worksheet

Data Sheet

|Male Gene (Blue color) |Female Gene (pink color) |

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| | |

| | |

| | |

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| | |

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| | |

| | |

| | |

| | |

| | |

|Trait |Genotype |Phenotype |

|Neck size | | |

|Number of toes | | |

|Wings | | |

|Tail spikes (present or absent) | | |

|Body color | | |

|Eye color | | |

|Horn? (present or absent) | | |

|Fire breathing? | | |

|Belly color | | |

|Color of tail spikes | | |

|freckles | | |

|Tail length | | |

|Gender, ear frills | | |

|Blood type | | |

Analysis/Questions

1. Compare your dragon to other dragons around the room. What differences and similarities do you see?

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2. How do you explain all of the differences, even though the dragons all had the same set of parents?

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3. If a homozygous long tail dragon is crossed with a short tail dragon. What percentage of the offspring will be short tail dragon? Show your work.

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4. From a cross between two heterozygous fire breathing dragons. What is the chance of producing a not fire breathing dragon? Show your work.

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5. Can you help Hagret to find out the expected phenotypes from a cross between two heterozygous green body dragons?

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6. If a heterozygous red winged dragon with no horn is crossed with a yellow winged dragon that has a horn (heterozygous). Can you tell Hagret what percentage of the offspring will be red winged with horns?

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Dragons Park Lab

Tail spikes(present or absent)

Tail spikes(present or absent)

Neck size

Neck size

Number of toes

Number of toes

Body color

HORNS

HORNS

Wings color

Wings color

Gender, ear frills

Gender, ear frills

Body color

Freckles

Freckles

Color of tail spikes

Eye color

Eye color

Color of tail spikes

Tail length

Tail length

Belly color

Belly color

Blood type

Blood type

Fire breathing?

Fire breathing?

Tail spikes(present or absent)

Tail spikes(present or absent)

Neck size

Body color

Body color

Number of toes

Neck size

Number of toes

HORNS

HORNS

Wings color

Wings color

Gender, ear frills

Gender, ear frills

Freckles

Freckles

Color of tail spikes

Color of tail spikes

Eye color

Eye color

Tail length

Tail length

Belly color

Belly color

Blood type

Blood type

Fire breathing?

Fire breathing?

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