Unit 4 - Heredity

Monday or January 2nd, 2017 C.E.: 

Happy New Year! Now we have officially cleared 2016! However, I have only really cleared 2016 after the midterms which are next week. I am sure I will do well on them, though, as we have a whole week to review.

The unit I am writing about is heredity. It was not as challenging or as long as the other units, but it was still quite interesting.

We talked about what genes are and how they are passed down expressed and passed down. We studied Austrian scientist Gregor Mendel and his study of pea plants. We looked at how traits are passed down from the two parents to the following two generations, called filials. Not only did we cover many interesting topics, we also had the opportunity to take part in a few advanced labs and activities.

In the first lab we extracted DNA from wheat germ. We used water and dish soap to soak and weaken the cell membrane. The alcohol helped the DNA precipitate. At the end of the lab we were able to spool a tiny white tendril of DNA onto a tooth pick.

The second lab was quite advanced. We cross bred 5 different mutations of fruit flies. The first group was the wild type. They are the "normal" types. The second group was the sepia group they had sepia eyes. The third had white eyes, the fourth smaller wings, and the fifth had legs instead of antennae. We studied sex-linked heredity and gene expression in this lab. We separated the male and females and then counted them after each generation. In order to count them, we sedated them with a chemical called FlyNap. This was probably the coolest part. We were not able to complete the lab since all the fruit fliehnbs died during Christmas break, but it was quite an educational lab in which I learned a lot.

We looked at the flies under the microscope in order to see their traits. 

We then sorted them with paintbrushes.