I got out of the habit of updating the blog each day; sorry about that!
Today we went over inheritance when there are multiple (more than 2) alleles for a certain gene in the population. The ABO blood group is a perfect example of this. Alleles A and B are codominant and they are both dominant over allele O. In addition, we discussed the Rh blood group which determines if someone is + or - (for example, I am O+). I explained that + and - are based on a different gene from the one that determines ABO and that this gene codes for a protein called the Rh factor. Rh+ is dominant over Rh-. Then we took a few minutes to talk about blood compatibility for transfusions and the role of the immune system. We established why O- is the universal donor while AB+ is the universal recipient.
If you are interested in learning more about blood groups start by looking at Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ABO. Check the References and External Links at the bottom.
Once we completed our discussion of multiple alleles I presented the case of Evan and Alexia and the mystery of their brown eyed son. Groups answered 7 questions for Part 1, which we will discuss at the beginning of class tomorrow.
HOMEWORK:
Read 14.3 and 14.4. You do not need to answer questions, but you never know when we may have a quiz.
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