Spotlight on Students: Mendelian Genetics

The following is a post that features the exemplary work of my Anthropology 102: Introduction to Physical Anthropology students as they tackled the challenges of Mendelian Genetics of Inheritance.  The background of this assignment was that they were tasked with discovery the parentage of a mystery alien creature from a group of alien creatures in a group of human's custody, and this post features some of the best analyses of the situation.  

Captain Boston with some "Bupples".

Sophie Marshall
Anth 102: 1001

Determining the genetic makeup of a particular offspring can be a difficult task at times. One of the reasons that this task can be so complicated is the fact that there can be so many different possibilities. Yet there is a certain method of performing this task that can help reduce these complications and make determining inherited traits a much easier process. This method is the Punnett Square, and it is a specialized system that helps to determine the inheritance of genes during reproduction (Stein, Philip 31). It is a process in which the genetic traits are examined, especially among possible parents of the offspring.

            In a hypothetical situation, I am currently exploring an alien planet as a new crewmember on a spacecraft. I am required to study a particular species of alien creatures that reside on this alien planet and determine the parents of a new type of offspring or hybrid. The offspring was conceived in private, and because of this reason the parents are unknown. This new Bupple hybrid has brown fur and purple eyes, which so far has not been seen among the other alien creatures, known as Bupples, studied. The parents of this offspring must also be determined in order to gain a better understanding of the genetics of these alien creatures. To do so, we must consider and study the different genes associated with all the different Bupples studied. 

            The Bupples already studied all express a different pair of inherited traits, and my partners have acquired them all for further studies. My partner Cruiser acquired a Bupple with black fur and blue eyes. Minoy acquired a Bupple with brown fur and purple eyes. Lastly, Lucas acquired a Bupple with white fur and purple eyes. Now, from previous research we already know that blue eyes and brown fur are less common among the Bupple species. We also know that black fur, white fur, and purple eyes are all more commonly seen among the Bupples. After further research on the Bupples, we know that Lucas has the only female Bupple. Because Lucas has the only female Bupple, his Bupple must be the mother of the new offspring. Knowing and using this information can help ease this complicated process of determining inherited traits.

            As we continue to study these Bupples, it is becoming clearer that it is less likely for Lucas’s Bupple to mate with Cruiser’s. Cruiser’s Bupple is less likely to be the father for an incredibly important reason. Neither Cruiser’s Bupple nor Lucas’s Bupple have brown fur. Cruiser’s Bupple does not physically display the brown fur trait, which leaves little possibility for the brown hair trait to be entered into the possible genetic makeup if Cruiser’s Bupple and Lucas’s Bupple reproduce. Cruiser’s Bupple also has black fur, which is known to be a dominant hair color. Also, Cruiser’s Bupple has blue eyes. This aspect on eye color is somewhat arbitrary in that it is generally recessive to purple eyes meaning that either Cruiser’s Bupple or Minoy’s Bupple could create a purple-eyed child. There is always a small possibility that Cruiser’s Bupple could be the father due to mutations or even double dominance, but both are fairly unlikely.

            By studying Minoy’s Bupple, a rise in the chance of paternity of the new hybrid rises. Minoy’s Bupple has brown fur, which is also the same fur color as the new offspring. Although the brown fur trait is a recessive genetic trait, it is more likely that it will be passed down if it is physically expressed in Minoy’s Bupple. This still leaves much possibility for the brown hair gene to be passed on to this new offspring if Lucas’s white-haired Bupple mated with Minoy’s brown-haired Bupple. Also, Minoy’s Bupple has purple eyes, also the same as the mother and offspring. This entails that Minoy’s Bupple could just as well produce a hybrid with purple eyes. As studies continue, there is little reason to believe that Minoy’s Bupple is not the father of the offspring.

            When comparing Minoy’s Bupple to Cruiser’s Bupple, it seems that there is a much higher probability of Minoy’s Bupple being the father. Although there is still a small possibility of Cruiser’s Bupple being the father, it is much more likely that Minoy’s Bupple is the father. To demonstrate this likelihood of paternity, we must use the Punnett Square.

By using the genetic traits of Lucas’s and Minoy’s Bupples, we can demonstrate the probability of producing a specific type of offspring:

	P	P
P	PP	PP
P	PP	PP

-In this Punnett Square, we can see that there is a 100% chance that a purple-eyed child will be produced if Lucas’s and Minoy’s Bupples reproduced to form an offspring

	W	w
b	Wb	wb
b	Wb	wb

(bb-Brown Fur)

-In this Punnett Square, we can see that there is about a 50% chance that an offspring will be produced with the brown fur trait if Lucas’s and Minoy’s Bupples reproduce. This is a much higher chance than if Cruisers Bupple is the father.

	W	w
B	WB	Bw
b	Wb	wb

(Bb-Black Fur)

- In this Punnett Square, we can see that there is absolutely no chance that a brown-haired child will be produced if Lucas’s and Cruiser’s Bupple were to reproduce.

  
Works Cited

Rowe, Philip L. Stein and Bruce M. Physical Anthropology. McGraw Hill Education, 2014.

Kaitlyn Robbins
Anth 102: 1501

Bupples are not your average alien animal. They are sweet and calm, making anyone who is on a lonely space adventure want to adopt one in a heartbeat. My crew mates and I were on a recent exploration of their home planet and we acquired three Bupples. Unfortunately, they got loose in our spaceship and when we found them they had made a cute, little, brown furred, purple eyed baby Bupple. I was instructed by our Captain, Captain Boston, to write a report on my findings. Within the process of my research I have determined that Lucas’s Bupple is the mother and Miony’s Bupple is the father.

            I acquired a zoology book from the alien planet which told me how to determine the sex of Bupples and was probably the worst part of this nightmare. This is how I came to the conclusion that Lucas’s Bupple, a white furred purple eyed Bupple, was the mother. Now I had to determine who the father was. In reading the zoology book, I discovered that black and white fur were the most common fur colors within the species and brown fur color was the least common. Also, purple eye color was the most common, and blue eye color was the least common within the species.

            Knowing this information, I got out some scratch paper and started determining the odds of the offspring of each Bupple. Cruiser’s Bupple was black furred and blue eyed, and Miony’s Bupple was brown furred and purple eyed. Taking into consideration that the offspring was brown hair and purple eyed, I determined that the mother had to be heterozygous because brown fur is a recessive trait, and in order for recessive traits to become expressed, two of them have to be present (Stein & Rowe 28, 29). Because the baby is brown haired and purple eyed, he/she had to of obtained two recessive genes from its parents, meaning that the father had to have the recessive gene, so either one of the male Bupples could have been the father. There is a greater chance of Miony’s Bupple being the father because he has both recessive genes. There was a 25% chance that if Cruiser’s Bupple mated with Lucas’s Bupple they would produce a Bupple with brown fur. There is a 50% chance that if Miony’s Bupple mated with Lucas’s Bupple they would produce a brown furred Bupple. This is how I came to the conclusion that Miony’s Bupple may have been the baby Bupple’s father.

            The other part of the genetic code we can look at it the purple eyes. Cruiser’s Bupple has blue eyes, which is the recessive genotype, or code for each trait. This means that Cruiser’s Bupple has both of the recessive genes (ee) and expresses blue eyes. Miony’s Bupple has purple eyes, and so does Lucas’s Bupple. Therefore, each of these Bupples can be heterozygous, meaning they have a dominant and a recessive gene, or homozygous dominant, which means they have two dominant genes, and express the purple eyes (Stein & Rowe 29). If Lucas’s Bupple was heterozygous there would be a 50% chance that it could have been either male who gave the baby Bupple its eyes. If both Luca’s Bupple and Miony’s Bupple were homozygous dominant, then there would be no chance that Cruiser’s Bupple could have been the father. Unfortunately the odds are not in Cruisers favor here. I believe that Miony’s Bupple and Lucas’s Bupple mated and produced an offspring with brown hair and purple eyes.

            In conclusion, this adventure to outer space has been more than interesting. My crew members and I discovered an alien race that multiplies very fast. Once they multiplied it was not that hard to determine who the parents were, except determining which Bupple was the female, which was probably the worst thing anybody would have to do in their life. After doing some simple calculations, I can confidently say that Lucas’s Bupple is heterozygous and Miony’s Bupple is homozygous recessive in regards to fur color. In regards to eye color, both mother and father possess purple eyes; therefore, they could be either heterozygous or homozygous dominant and the baby would still have purple eyes. With all of this information, Miony’s Bupple is the father.

 
 Works Cited

Rowe, Philip L. Stein and Bruce M. Physical Anthropology. McGraw Hill Education, 2014.