Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Lab 01 - Human (Mendelian) genetics

During this first lab students learned the basics of building pedigrees to study human genetics. Pedigrees were built for the following traits
  • Free or attached ear lobe
  • Hitchhiker's thumb
  • Tongue rolling
  • Hand folding
The latter two are behavioral traits with a genetic component but they seem to be inherited in a Mendelian fashion; they were suitable for this basic exercise. Each student surveyed such traits in their immediate family in order to perform the analyses.

Then we performed a couple of simulations (gametogenesis and fertilziation) to illustrate the Mendelian principles of segregation and independent assortment.

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