Spotlight on Students: Mendelian Genetics

The following is a post that features the exemplary work of one of my Anthropology 102: Introduction to Physical Anthropology students.  In this assignment he was tasked with addressing a problem involving Mendelian Genetics of Inheritance.  The background of this assignment was that students were tasked with discovery the parentage of a mystery alien individual from a group of alien species. 


Murdoc Brickel, Anth 102: 1001

Field report from planet Phelineas to Captain of SS Adventurer:

Include: Phelineas Royal family:

SUBJECT: Concerning the fatherhood of Katze newborn of Princess Silina.

            In the question of who sired the newborn baby of Princess Silina I have determined who has become the father through the sacred oil ceremony.  Through the process of deductive reasoning, and using the techniques of simple Mendelian genetics I can prove who sired the new born.  Using the resources of the Royal Family Library I was able to build a database of enough information to determine easily identifiable physical traits and their orders of dominance,  which is a characteristic of genetics that determines which traits, or alleles, will be physically shown (Stein & Rowe,  2014, pg. 25).  The traits that I will be using are the pointedness of the ears, the color of hair, and the texture of the skin.

            First I will describe the basis of the process by which I used to determine the father, then I will present the evidence to support my decision.  The process of Mendelian genetics studies the pairing of two alleles, with one usually being more predominant over the other when they are physically expressed.  This physical expression is called the phenotype (Stein & Rowe, 2014, pg. 28).  I have enclosed charts after this report which will show in detail how this bonding process results in a combination of possible outcomes given the genetic information of the parents.  When one gene is considered dominant over another the dominant trait is the trait that will be shown.  In the case of a recessive gene, or a gene that is less dominant, it takes a pairing of both of these recessive genes for the trait to become visible (Boston, C., Dr.; Lecture).      All dominant traits are expressed in the charts following with a capital letter, for example 'A'.  All recessive genes are expressed with a lower case letter for example, 'a'.  There are certain traits that are less dominant than others, and more dominant than others.  For example, let us say that trait 'B' is more dominant than trait 'a', but less dominant than trait 'C'.  If we were to arrange these three traits in their order of dominance for greatest to least it would look like 'C-B-a' , so in pairing the 'C' and 'B' genes together 'B' would be the recessive gene.  This would be written as 'Cb”, and the 'C' gene would be expressed (Boston, 2015, Lecture).

            Now I will discuss the issue of the ears, or how pointy or rounded they are.  Through research in the library, I have determined that pointy ears have a dominance over the trait for rounded ears.  Through speaking with the wet nurse (Wet Nurse, Interview) I was able to determine that the Princess was a homozygous carrier of the pointy ear trait.  What this means is that both sides of the family in the Royal Family of Phelineas had pointy ears.  When it is said that someone is a homozygous carrier of a trait, it means that both of their alleles for a gene are of the same type (Stein & Rowe, 2014, pg. 28).  Since the pointy ears alleles are dominant, we could also refer to the Princess as a homozygous dominant carrier.  Since both of her alleles for this trait are dominant, and she has two of them, she could not have children without pointy ears.  This is why this trait, while it is a good point of reference that is easy to identify, would not be a good judge of who the father is.  I was not aware of this factor when I was doing my research in the library.  I have included it in this report as a point of reference, as any future children that the Princess may have with either of these suitors may have rounded ears.  This is due to a blending of the alleles, which is referred to as a heterozygous carrier.  This is another big word that basically means that an individual would have a dominant and a recessive allele present in their genetic makeup (Stein & Rowe, 2014, pg. 29). 

            Let us move now to the hair genes.  As we have seen, the baby is bald.  According to my research in the Royal Family Library, this is not just because it is a new born.  As you know Katze children are born with hair, if they will have it.  This baldness is what would be referred to as a homozygous-recessive gene.  This means that the child would need two of the same recessive allele in order to have this phenotype.  This occurred because both of the parents were carriers for the baldness allele, or heterozygous with a baldness allele.  The Princess has black hair, which I have found to be the most dominant of the three hair traits.  She has a bald child so she is a carrier of the baldness allele.  The potential fathers both have silver hair.  The silver haired allele I found is less dominant than black hair, and more dominant than baldness.  The chances of the Princess and one of the suitors having a bald headed child are among the rarest but not out of the realm of possibilities.  Since both of the potential suitors have silver hair, we can rule this out as a determining factor as to who sired the child.  Again, I include this as an explanation.  Even though none of the potential partners are bald, as the baby is, this does not mean that they would not be the parents.  This means that the Princess and one or both of the suitors more than likely had a bald relative and have passed this trait down to the infant.

            Now we will move onto the skin texture.  I have noticed that there are three distinct skin types among the Katzes, which are smooth, wrinkled, and scaly; these are presented in their order of dominance from least dominant to most dominant.  The Princess has smooth skin, which is a homozygous recessive genotype, or that she could only have this skin type allele.  Lord Garpheldhas a wrinkled skin type, which means that while he may also be a carrier for a smooth skin type gene he does not have a scaly skin type gene.  Bishop Pheelex, on the other hand, does posess a scaly skin type.  This skin type gene I found to be the most dominant among the three skin types.  This means that if it were present, it would be physically expressed, which leads me to say that Bishop Pheelex is the father of the child.  As a post note, if the Bishop and the Princess were to have more children, they may also have children wrinkled or smooth skin.  This is because the Bishop may be a heterozygous carrier of these genes, and with the Princess having the most recessive of the group any other trait would take dominance with regards to skin type (Boston, 2015, Lecture).

            In conclusion, Bishop Pheelex is the father of the baby.  The Princess' homozygous dominant pointy ear alleles mean that any child she has would also have pointy ears.  The baby’s baldness is a result of both the Princess and Bishop Pheelex being carriers of the bald allele.  The scaliness of the baby’s skin comes from his father Bishop Pheelex as this is a dominant gene.  Something to keep in mind is that the Princess's baby may have children with rounded ears.  Another thing to keep in mind is that if the Princess and the Bishop have another child it may have hair and a different skin type than this baby.  May prosperity always find the Royal Family of Phelineas.

Punnett Squares

 Highlighted pairs reflect what the baby has

Ear Shape –R=pointy r=rounded

HOMO	Lord Garpheld
Princess Silina	R	R
R	RR	RR
R	RR	RR

HETERO/HOMO	Lord Garpheld
Princess Silina	R	r
R	RR	Rr
R	RR	Rr

HETERO/HOMO	Bishop Pheelex
Princess Silina	r	r
R	Rr	Rr
R	Rr	Rr

Phenotype 100% pointy ears

Hair – B=black S=silver b=bald

Since both Lord Garpheld and Bishop Pheelex have silver hair, the comparisons will be the same for both.

HOMO	Lord Garpheld/ Bishop Pheelex
Princess Silina	S	S
B	Bs	Bs
B	Bs	Bs

HETERO/HOMO	Lord Garpheld/ Bishop Pheelex
Princess Silina	S	b
B	Bs	Bb
B	Bs	Bb

HOMO/HETERO	Lord Garpheld/ Bishop Pheelex
Princess Silina	S	S
B	Bs	Bs
s	SS	SS

HETERO/HETERO silver	Lord Garpheld/ Bishop Pheelex
Princess Silina	S	b
B	Bs	Bb
s	SS	Sb

HOMO/HETERO bald	Lord Garpheld/ Bishop Pheelex
Princess Silina	S	S
B	Bs	Bs
b	Sb	Sb

HETERO/HETERO bald	Lord Garpheld/ Bishop Pheelex
Princess Silina	S	b
B	Bs	Bb
b	Sb	bb

Black Hair 67%  Silver Hair 29%  Bald 4%

Skin Type – S=Scaley  W=Wrinkled  s=smooth

HOMO/HOMO	Lord Garpheld
Princess Silina	W	W
s	Ws	Ws
s	Ws	Ws

HETRO/HOMO	Lord Garpheld
Princess Silina	W	s
s	Ws	ss
s	Ws	ss

HOMO	Bishop Pheelex
Princess Silina	S	S
s	Ss	Ss
s	Ss	Ss

HETERO Wrinkled/HOMO	Bishop Pheelex
Princess Silina	S	w
s	Ss	Ws
s	Ss	Ws

HETERO Smooth/HOMO	Bishop Pheelex
Princess Silina	S	s
s	Ss	ss
s	Ss	ss

Scaled skin 40%   Wrinkled skin 40%  Smooth skin 20%

Bishop Pheelex is the father of the child.

References

Boston, C. , Dr. (Director) (2015, January 27- May 13). Physical Anthropology. Lecture conducted from Truckee Meadows Community College .

Stein, P., & Rowe, B. (2014). Physical anthropology (Eleventh ed.). McGraw-Hill.

Wet nurse to Phelineas Royal family [Personal interview].(n.d.)

Phelineas Royal family personal library. 

Game On! Understanding Tabletop Board Game Lexicon

Figure 1: Jeremy & Josh, Tabletop Board Gamers, at RAGECon 2014

Today's post is dedicated to understanding the complex lexicon, or vocabulary, of tabletop board gamers.  Tabletop board gamers, for the purposes of this post, are board game enthusiasts who typically focus their interests in complex board games that involve a great deal of strategy, thinking, and complex fun (Figure 1).  Tabletop board gamers are differentiated from other board gamers in two primary ways: first, by the board games they opt to play, which are typically referred to by these individuals as European style board games (complex style of board games, such as Carcassonne, Smallworld, Arkham Horror, Alhambra, King of Tokyo, many more [Figure 2]), and second, by their focal vocabulary, a specific lexicon that is recognizable and important to specific groups and serves as a way of uniting the group members and differentiating nonmembers.

Figure 2: A small sample of the various types of European Style Board Games that Tabletop Board Gamers Play

A member of the Tabletop Board Game community is most often familiar with the focal vocabulary, which is often indiscernible to nonmembers.  A small sample of the words, terms, and phrases are as follows:

1. RPG (Roleplaying game): a game in which players take on specific roles and character types in order to complete the game)
2. Meeple: a small person shaped figure used in board games
3. XP: experience point(s).  Many games require players earn experience points, which are used to determine the winner(s) of the game.
4. Sleeves: thin plastic coverings for cards utilized in board games.
5. Dice tower: a device used to roll dice fairly.
6. D-6, D-12, D-20...: D refers to die or dice and the number refers to the number of sides on the die or dice.  Various types of multi-sided dice may be used in games, typically dependent on the style of game or the purpose the dice serve in the game.
7. Natural #: in reference to a die roll that led to a specific number to be face up.  Some games require natural rolls versus game modifiers that allow die rolls to be artificially changed.  
8. Mechanic: system of rules for playing games.  Various game mechanics exist, each of which are unique and preferentially desirable among specific gamers.
9. Worker Placement: game mechanic that mandates players to make individual actions from a set of actions 
10. Playtest: term for board game developers to test or try out board games on a group of volunteers who test the mechanics of the game and determine if the rules or other aspects of the game require clarification or revision. 

Tabletop Board Gamers at RAGECon 2014

Phrases such as RPG and meeple  can leave nonmembers confused, but they seek to demonstrate not only instruction or direction to Tabletop Board Gamers but also inclusion.  The act of recognizing the language spoken by other Board Gamers solidifies the bonds among members and creates and fosters a sense of community.  Nonmembers often are confused and feel isolated in the midst of Tabletop Board Gamers, and nonmembers may react negatively as a result.  Typically, however, most Tabletop Board Gamers are very friendly and open and willing to teach games to genuinely interested individuals, including other members of the community.

Individuals in the Reno-area who are interested in learning more about the local Tabletop Board Game community should check out Comic Kingdom, Merwin's Game Shoppe, the Reno Area Tabletop Meetup Group, and RAGECon 2015 for opportunities to participate in and learn about European style board games and more. 

Summers of Diversity: Examining Multicultural Festivals & Events

Multiculturalism is the view of cultural diversity in a country as something good and desirable.  America is considered a multicultural nation due to the diverse groups of people who exist within the country's borders.  In fact, many individuals, particularly students, are quick to point out that America is a "melting pot" nation, which they say means that the US is made up of and represented by various different cultural groups from around the world.  They go on to state that many American citizens are also derived from various cultural backgrounds.

It is therefore not uncommon, particularly during the summer months, for the United States to emphasize this cultural diversity through a variety of cultural activities, such as festivals or events.  These events are opportunities for others, particularly nonmembers, to experience, understand, and learn about cultures unlike their own.  These festivals and events are also opportunities to promote understanding and appreciation of the cultural diversity that exists within the United States.  I have and continue to attend and participate in multicultural events, and I encourage my students to do so as well as a means of expanding their understanding of cultures (and anthropology).

But as well meaning as many of these events are there are some dos & don'ts when it comes to multiculturalism and festivals & events that claim to be multicultural.  This list is by no means exhaustive but is meant to be a way to start critically analyzing the messages you are exposed to at these events to allow you to understand if you are getting a truly multicultural experience or one that either intentionally or unintentionally is perpetuating stereotypes about the group(s) or culture(s) being "represented":

•  Consider who is organizing or sponsoring the event:  A good way to figure out if you are going to get an authentic cultural experience is to look at who is organizing or sponsoring the event.  Events that are organized or sponsored by organizations of the culture and/or group(s) being represented in the event or festival are usually going to present a balanced and accurate depiction of the cultural and/or group(s) (see picture above).  Events that are not organized or sponsored by a representative organization may not be as authentic.  It does not necessarily mean that it will not be as authentic or fully authentic but that is typically a red flag, and you may be attending an event that is therefore perpetuating stereotypes. 

The Stewart Indian School Pow Wow

• Look at who is attending the event:  While at the event take a moment to look around and see who is actually in attendance at the event.  Typically if the event is an authentic cultural experience members of the culture will be there in order to experience and celebrate their own culture.  Be respectful of these people, though, as many of them may not want to be disturbed.  Some may be there because this may be one of the few opportunities where they can participate in their culture free from judgement, but some may be there in order to expose others, particularly nonmembers, to their culture.  If someone looks friendly enough to speak to and you want to engage them in conversation do so congenially and without expectation, and if they end up not wanting to be engaged respectfully leave them be. 

Attendees at India Fest in London, ON.

• Check out what goods are being sold at the event:  This is not meant to be a means of promoting the commercialization of the event.  This is, however, an indicator of the authenticity of the festival or event.  Are the items for sale representative of the group?  Or are they not at all representative of the group?  This one may be a bit more difficult and will require a little research ahead of time to see what is actually representative of the culture or group being served by the festival or event.

Gaming Vendors at RAGECon (Reno Area Gaming Extreme Convention).

• See what events are going on: Again, this will require a bit of forethought and research into the culture, but having an idea of what is considered appropriate events for a culture is typically a great way to gauge the authenticity of the event.  Many inauthentic events will polarize stereotypes about the group and/or culture being "represented" vs. authentic events that will provide you a genuine cultural experience.  Dances, food, attire, etc. will typically be provided by members of the actual culture if the event is authentic.  This does not mean that authentic events will not have nonmembers participating, but typically these individuals are doing so as they have been enculturated into the culture and identify as belonging to it in some way. 

Flamenco Dancers at a festival in Arica, Chile.