Genetic Variety Blog 3/18/10

My Reebops demonstrate genetic variety in many different ways!
Genetic variety is basically an assortment of heredity, which my bugs show a lot of. To have a variety is to have a mixture or collection of all different things. When it comes to traits, the bugs have so much diversity!
My first bug has a green and brown body, my second bug has a green body, the third has a brown body, and my fourth is yellow. P1 has a curved and feathered antennae, while F3 has a curved antennae. Furthermore, my F2 was wings but my F3 does not have wings, and it's only a single generation difference! My P1, F1, and F2 all have stingers and my F3 does not have a stinger. That is certainly a variation!
It is not only the phenotypes that there are a medley of, but there are many different genotypes between generations as well! My P1 is heterozgyous (S,s) for having a stinger and my F1 is homozygous dominant (S,S) for having a stinger. The F2 Reebop is heterozygous (B,y) and brown and the F3 is homozygous recessive (y,y) and yellow.
How might bugs only a few generations apart be so different? Well, when a bug mates with another bug, the offspring could have many different alleles for different traits. Just because one parent of a bug is homozgyous dominant for red eyes does not mean the offspring certainly will be, too.
My Reebops demonstrate a lot of genetic variety because all four have many different genes.

3/7/10 Blog

Dear Past Self,
When learning about Incomplete and Co-Dominance, there are a few important things to remember and consider. Incomplete dominance is when two dominant alleles mix with each other. An example is when a red flower and a yellow produce an orange flower. One way to remember is to think about how something incomplete is not finished, or only partly done. So, with incomplete dominance, two different alleles for a trait are only partially 'used'. Next, Co-dominance is when two alleles are equally dominant. For example, when a flower is multiple different colors, it is co-dominant. One way to remember co-dominance is thinking about how co- means cooperative, or, working together. So, it's like the alleles work together in cooperation.
Remember when trying to decide if someone has a co-dominant or incomplete dominant trait that if the offspring produced is a mix of its parents, it is incompletely dominant. When an offspring has multiple alleles shown in the same trait, it is co-dominant.
To make this easier to learn, you can experiment with breeding flowers and mixing alleles to create a certain flower color. For example, you can breed a white flower and a red flower to produce a pink flower. This would give you a better understanding of the concepts of co-dominance and incomplete dominance.