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.

1/31/2010 Blog!

This week in Science we learned more about Meiosis. We learned about this through simulations, research, and discussions. This is important to know because our own cells go through Meiosis.

Dear past Katie,
When thinking about the differences between Mitosis and Meiosis, there are many things to consider. Remember that the stages of Mitosis are Interphase, Prophase, metaphase, anaphase, and telophase.The stages of Meiosis are diploid cell, phophase 1, metaphase 1, anaphase 1, telophase 1, prophase 2, metaphase 2, anaphase 2, telophase 2, and gamete. So, keep in mind that there are more stages in Meiosis and that many of the stage names are the same. There are many differences between the two to keep in mind. For example, in Mitosis, after telophase and cytokinesis Mitosis is complete, but, in Mesiosis, after Telophase 1, there is still much more to do, So, remembering that Meiosis is about twice the length of Mitosis, you can remember that the result of Mitosis is two identical diploid cells and that the result of meiosis is 4 haploid cells. Also, think about how haploid sounds like half, and haploid cells have 50%, or, half, of the DNA. Another key to learning the differences between Mitosis and Meiosis is looking at pictures of corresponding stages of both processes, which is helpful in identiying similarities and differences.
Hope this was helpful!

Something that is helpful in understanding the similarities and differences is viewing simulations of the two processes to grasp a better understanding of the stages, what the stages look like, and what happens in each stage.

1/24/10 Blog!

This week in Science we learned about Meiosis.

We learned about meiosis, or, sexual reproduction, by going online and researching it. We learned that the stages are: Diploid cell;Prophase 1; Metaphase 1; Anaphase1; Telophase 1; Prophase 2; Metaphase 2; Anaphase 2; Telophase 2; and Gamete. We also learned what happens during each stage. Also, we learned Meiosis makes four replicated cells that each have a nucleus, chromosomes, and DNA.

This is important to know because we should know what process takes place in cells that fill our bodies.

1/17/10 Blog

This week in science, we learned about the cell cycle.

We learned that different cells go through the cycle different amounts of times. The cycle consists of:

1. Gap 1-in which the cell grows and makes proteins, interphase takes place
   
2. synthesis
3. Gap 2- in which the cell grows and the DNA replicates(copies)
4. Mitosis- in which each cell receives chromosome copies
   
5. Cytokinesis

Before a cell enters the synthesis stage, it checks if it is big enough and if the environment it is in is suitable. Between Gap 2 and Mitosis, the cell checks if the DNA is replicated, and during mitosis, the cell checks to make sure the chromosomes are alligned. Mitosis takes place in a very short amount of time. Cells spend 50% of their time in interphase, 27% of their time in prophase, 8% of their time in metaphase, 5% of their time in anapahse, and 2% of their time in telophase.

Many different things happen in mitosis, like: During anaphase, sister chromatids move apart; in Telophase, a new nuclear membrane forms around chromosomes and the cell's cytoplasm is divided; In, Prophase, the spindle is formed and the nuclear membrane and nucleolis begin to fade from view. Many things happen in Mitosis!

Also, by labeling pictures, we learned about identifying what stages of mitosis cells are in.

This is all very important to know because, cells are in and all around us, and it is important for us to know their life cycle.

This week in science, we learned about reproduction.

To learn about reproduction, our class made a table. For organism reproduction and cell reproduction, we put:

• some use sperm and egg to reproduce
• others split in two
• makes a copy of organelles
• replicates(copies)
• before splitting, DNA must double in size

Under the category of: Sex vs. Reproduction, we wrote

• For Sex:
• 50% sperm cell
• 50% egg cell
• cell delivery service
  
• does not necessarily end with offspring

For Reproduction:

• Sperm and egg join together
• fertilize

This is important to know because reproduction is constantly going on.

To further explore reproducing cells, we found out the 5 stages of Mitosis and tried to find cells during those stages in a microscope while looking at an onion root tip slide.

12-19-09 Blog

This week in science we learned more about DNA, the size order of cell parts, and how a cell compares to other things.

We learned more about DNA by reading sections of a DNA book and doing some simulations online. One thing I learned about DNA is that it is the main form of nucleic acid. Also, it carries genetic information and controls reproduction. Another thing I learned is that proteins are made up of amino acids. This is important to know about because our body is full of DNA.

We learned about the size order of cell parts by brainstorming with our groups. Here's the list our group came up with

1. atoms
2. molecule
3. adenine
4. base pairs
5. strand DNA
   
6. chromosome

This is important because an experiment can be completely inaccurate if the person conducting the experiment got one of these items mixed up with another.

We learned about how a cell compares to other things by creating an analogy. For example, I said that a cell is like a house. Ribosomes are like light bulbs and the house structure itself is like the cell wall. This is important to know because when trying to think of an organelle's function, you can think about the analogy and what each part of the home compares to in a cell.