Thursday, January 13, 2011

Recent Science Class Activities Blog

One of the most interesting things I learned in my recent science classes were Punnet squares. A Punnet square is basically a big square that is divided into four smaller squares. Then you put in the genotypes. In a combination, the dominant allele is represented by a capital letter while a recessive one is a lower-case letter. At the top of the Punnet square, the first allele combination is inserted. Then to the left of the square, the second allele combination is put in. After that, you match the two alleles for each square. For example, if S was on top of the top left square and s was beside it, then that square would contain a heterozygous, or allele combination that has a dominant and recessive trait. The list of possible genotypes are: SS=dominant Ss=dominant ss=recessive.

The Punnet square is named after its inventor, Reginald C. Punnet. The man to first research genetic similarities, traits, and differences is a monk named Gregory Mendel. Geneticists constantly use Punnet squares to find out the possible traits of the offspring of organisms. In conclusion, Punnet squares are a really interesting topic that I learned about. The way you utilize it to find out the probability of an offspring's traits is extremely fascinating. Punnet squares are a useful topic to learn about if you're interested in genetics.

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