Do dominant traits occur more often than recessive traits?
For the last few class periods we have been discussing human genetics. You know that for every pair of genes that your have in your body, one came from your mom and one came from your dad. We have also discussed dominant and recessive traits. You have learned that if a dominant trait is present in a persons genotype, that is the trait that will be expressed in that persons appearance. You also know that recessive traits are only expressed if there are two of them in that persons genotype- meaning both Mom and Dad passed the recessive gene on to them. So the question is: Do dominant traits occur more often than recessive traits?
To explore this question, we are going to participate in an online study that will allow us to gather data from all over the world. The Center for Innovation in Engineering and Science Education (CIESE) has set the study up, and we will use their database to input the data we collect so that it can be tallied with the data collected by other schools from around the world. A complete description of the project can be found at: http://www.ciese.org/curriculum/genproj/
The traits that we will be looking at will include:
Earlobes: Free ear lobes (dominant trait) vs. Attached ear lobes (recessive trait) image
Forelock: White forelock (dominant trait) vs. No white forelock (recessive trait) info
Dimples: Dimples (dominant trait) vs. No dimples (recessive trait) image
Thumbs: Straight thumb (dominant trait) vs. Curved thumb (recessive trait) viewed from the side) image
Pinky: Straight pinky (recessive trait) vs. Bent pinky (dominant trait) image
Mid-digit hair: Mid-digit hair (dominant trait) vs. No mid-digit hair (recessive trait) image
Color-blindness: recessive info
To explore this question, we are going to participate in an online study that will allow us to gather data from all over the world. The Center for Innovation in Engineering and Science Education (CIESE) has set the study up, and we will use their database to input the data we collect so that it can be tallied with the data collected by other schools from around the world. A complete description of the project can be found at: http://www.ciese.org/curriculum/genproj/
The traits that we will be looking at will include:
Earlobes: Free ear lobes (dominant trait) vs. Attached ear lobes (recessive trait) image
Forelock: White forelock (dominant trait) vs. No white forelock (recessive trait) info
Dimples: Dimples (dominant trait) vs. No dimples (recessive trait) image
Thumbs: Straight thumb (dominant trait) vs. Curved thumb (recessive trait) viewed from the side) image
Pinky: Straight pinky (recessive trait) vs. Bent pinky (dominant trait) image
Mid-digit hair: Mid-digit hair (dominant trait) vs. No mid-digit hair (recessive trait) image
Color-blindness: recessive info