We did a lot of projects over the course of this unit but overall we learned a lot about genetics and how they can be used in different ways.  We did our 

• Murder Mystery (pedigrees, DNA fingerprinting, etc)

We had different genetic evidence that we put together so we could figure out who was the murderer. 

• Super Crop (traits)

We used genetics to form a crop that would survive in our given environment 

• pKiwi Lab (biotechnology and genetic engineering)

We used DNA modification to make an e-coli bacteria glow. 

Content 

Content:

Biotechnology- the use of advances in molecular biology for applications in human and animal health, agriculture, environment, and specialty biochemical manufacturing.

Sex-linked recessive traits- when the trait is passed from the mother's X chromosome, and since a male has only one X whereas a female has two X chromosomes, males are more likely to inherit sex-linked recessive traits.

Autosomal dominance-  a way a genetic trait or condition can be passed down from parent to child. 

Autosomal recessive traits-two copies of an abnormal gene must be present in order for the disease or trait to develop

Punnet Squares-a table in which all of the possible outcomes for a genetic cross between two individuals with known genotypes are given

Genetic Engineering- a process that uses laboratory-based technologies to alter the DNA makeup of an organism. 

Pedigrees- a chart that diagrams the inheritance of a trait or health condition through generations of a family. 

Recessive traits-  a trait that is expressed only when genotype is homozygous

Traits-  a specific characteristic of an individual

Phenotype-The observable characteristics in an individual resulting from the expression of genes

Sexual Reproduction- reproduction involving the fusion of haploid female gamete (egg cell) and haploid male gamete, resulting in the formation of a diploid zygote.

Hybrid-An individual formed by mating between unlike forms, usually genetically differentiated populations or species.

Incomplete Dominance-results from a cross in which each parental contribution is genetically unique and gives rise to progeny whose phenotype is intermediate.

Law of Segregration-only one of the two gene copies present in an organism is distributed to each gamete (egg or sperm cell) that it makes, and the allocation of the gene copies is random.

Genotype-a scoring of the type of variant present at a given location (i.e., a locus) in the genome. 

Homozygous alleles- having inherited the same versions (alleles) of a genomic marker from each biological parent. 

Hetrozygous alleles- having inherited different versions (alleles) of a genomic marker from each biological parent

Alleles- One of two or more versions of a genetic sequence at a particular region on a chromosome.

Co-dominance- type of inheritance in which two versions (alleles) of the same gene are expressed separately to yield different traits in an individual.

Dominance-the relationship between two versions of a gene

Mutations- Any change in the DNA sequence of a cell.

Reflection 

Overall I think that I did really well with being a conscientious learner and collaborating well in these projects. They took a lot of preciseness and collaborating and I think those aspects went well. I think I could have done a better job at my communication especially when people weren't at school. This unit taught me a lot and it was very fun.