GENETICS EXPLORATION

I. Press F9 a few times to become aquainted with what changes and what does not on the charts.
Answer the following questions for each of the different litter quantities after pressing F9 ONE time (the birth of one litter of pups).

        - How many times does a puppy have dark brown eyes, a black coat, and a short and blocky body?

Litter of 9:                                    Litter of 100:                                   Litter of 5000:

        - How many times does a puppy have dark brown eyes, a black coat, and a tall and thin body?

Litter of 9:                                    Litter of 100:                                   Litter of 5000:

        - How many times does a puppy have dark brown eyes, a yellow coat and a short and blocky body?

Litter of 9:                                    Litter of 100:                                   Litter of 5000:

        - How many times does a puppy have dark brown eyes, a yellow coat and a tall and thing coat?

Litter of 9:                                    Litter of 100:                                   Litter of 5000:

        - How many times does a puppy have light brown eyes?  

Litter of 9:                                    Litter of 100:                                   Litter of 5000:  

        - Which type of puppy is the most common?

Litter of 9:                                    Litter of 100:                                   Litter of 5000:

II. Examine the special chart and the trait list that displays some genetic information about the mating of a Sire (Cane) and a Dame (Scout) in order to answer the following:

        - Looking at the first row, what do you notice about the combinations of letters? Think of anything and everything you can!!

        - What do you think that each letter (capital and lower case) stands for?

        - Which dog is represented by this row of "letters"?

        - Looking at the first column, what do you notice about the combinations of letters? Think of it all!

        - Do these letters stand represent the same "things" that the letters in the first row do?

        - Which dog is represented by this column of  letters?

        - What is different about the letter combinations in each of the remaining cells on this chart?

        - Who might be represented by ONE of the cells?

        - How many different ways can the "who" from above be represented?

       -  Select one of the cells and match it up with one of the "looks" of the pups from the spreadsheet.  What do the capital letters represent?  What do you think that the lower case letters represent?

        -  Can a dog "carry" two different possibilities for one trait but only express one of the possibilities in an outward appearance?

        - Consider what the information in one of the cells represents. Compare the information found the first row and column and the information found in one cell. What deduction could you make about the entries in the first row and columns?

 
        - What are the true combination of letters that represent both Cane and Scout?

III. Make a connection between what you learned about probability to this lesson on genetics in order to answer the following questions:

        - What is the sample space of the mating of Scout and Cane? Hint: You might be considering two different sample spaces!!

        - Notice the change in the deviation percentage from litter to litter as you press F9. What affects this calculation and what can you conclude from this?

        - What is the theoretical probability that you will get the brown eyed, short and blocky, yellow lab that you wanted from the litter of Scout and Cane? 

Litter of 9:                                    Litter of 100:                                   Litter of 5000:

         -  What is the type of probability that you need to understand in order to calculate the above answers?

        - What could the litters of "100" and "5000" be referring to?