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Create A Baby Lab

Create a Baby Lab

Name_______________ Per ___

Purpose: To demonstrate the principles of Mendelian genetics and sex determination,

including the concepts of allele, phenotype, genotype, dominant, recessive,

codominant, homozygous and heterozygous by creating a simulated baby.

Materials: Two pennies, art supplies, paper.

Procedure:

1) Working with a partner, determine the genotype of the baby by flipping pennies.

“Mom” flips one penny to choose an allele for her egg and “Dad” flips the other to

choose an allele for his sperm. (Note that the sex of the baby is determined by dad

alone. Boys are XY and girls are XX. Mom can give only an X but dad can give an X or

a Y chromosome.)

2) Record the alleles which resulted from the coin flips, and put “sperm and egg”

together. Write down baby’s genotype for each trait in Table 1. Heads represents allele

#1 and tails represents allele #2.

3) Record the resulting phenotype in Table 1. Note: Dominant alleles are written with

an uppercase letter and recessive alleles are written as lowercase letters. Dominant

alleles mask the expression of recessive ones. Co-dominant alleles are written as

uppercase letters with a subscript. Co-dominant alleles result in a phenotype that is

blended.

4) Repeat steps 1, 2, and 3 for all traits and then draw, color, and name your creation.

Remember that you are drawing a baby’s face—not a child’s or an adult’s (no tattoos,

pierced ears, mustaches, etc.)

__________________________________________________________________

Concluding Questions:

1. Why is the coin flip used to represent the selection of alleles?

2. Define the following terms:

allele-

phenotype-

genotype-

dominant-

recessive-

codominant-

homozygous-

heterozygous-

chromosome-

locus-

gene-

Create A Baby Lab