Variations on Human Face - Assignment Example

The paper “Variations on Human Face - Physical Attributes of My Child Based upon Coin Tosses" is an intriguing example of an assignment on anthropology. My offspring is female in gender, based on the coin toss, which landed heads up.  Hair color coin toss generated AaBb; which represents brown hair color. Eye color from the coin toss was AABb, which denoted dark brown eye color. Skin color generated 5 points; meaning that the child was neither too dark nor pale skin but in the middle; brown in color.

How might it be possible for you to show a trait that neither parent demonstrates? The trait that was inherited might be recessive but was not expressed in either parent, although the parents have the trait in their genome even if they do not express it. It is also most probable that one of the grandparents had the trait. Another possible explanation for this occurrence is via gene mutation (Rathus 26-28). Traits which are co-dominant or incompletely dominant Traits which are manipulated by more than two genes are co-dominant/ incompletely dominant.

Such traits demonstrate a heterozygous condition. Such traits include; hair color, skin color, and eye color, i.e. pale yellow blonde hair color (aabb), brown hair color (AaBB, AaBb), dark brown eye color (AABB, AABb), gray eye color (Aabb). In regard to my offspring, co-dominant/ incompletely dominant traits are AaBb and AABb. Why did you have to flip the coin twice to determine hair and eye color? A coin was flipped twice to determine hair and eye color as two genes (polygenic traits) were assumed to be involved in the phenotype.

For example, in the case of eye color, two genes were assumed to be involved one, which codes for pigment color in front of the iris and another one which codes for eye color at the back of the iris. Cross of a wavy-haired person with a wavy-haired person Hh represents genes of a wavy-haired person. Cross between almond-shaped eyes and curly hair individual with a mate that demonstrates straight hair and small eyes and ears. Does this information tell anything about the personality of future offspring?

Why is this so?  An individual with almond-shaped eyes and curly hair has dominant alleles, whereas the mate with straight hair and small eyes and ears has recessive alleles. This information can determine the personality of the future offspring by the use of a Punnett square, which is used as a predictive tool. All the offsprings will likely be heterozygous since the A (almond eyes) and H (curly hair) are dominant over the h (straight hair) and l (small eyes and ears). Three of my physical characteristics.

Do my parents possess the same phenotypes? Are phenotypes always the same as genotypes, why? I have dark brown eyes, black wavy hair, and bushy eyebrows. My parents possess the same phenotypes; my mother has brown eyes, black straight hair, and a bushy eyebrow, whereas my father has brown curly hair, dark brown eyes, and a bushy eyebrow. I inherited the physical phenotypes from both parents. No, phenotypes are not always the same as genotypes. This is because the genotype symbolizes the alleles, while phenotype represents observable physical traits (Pollack 490).

For instance, in the case of a homozygous gene, the dominant gene always emerges as the phenotype in spite of the recessive allele, which will not be expressed yet the individual has it. However, phenotypes can be same as genotypes in cases of co-dominance/ incomplete dominance. Lessons learned from this assignment From this assignment, I have come to learn and appreciate that Gregor Mendel made the discipline of genetics comprehendible. The behavior of chromosomes can explain the behaviors of genes (segregation and independent assortment).

Through genetics, human beings have been able to understand why family members almost have identical traits. This is because the inheritance of phenotypes is used to infer to the inheritance of genes.  I have learned Mendel’s first law of independent segregation, which is essential in the prediction of phenotypes and genotypes resulting from a given cross. I have also learned that genes on diverse chromosomes assort independently according to Mendel’s second law of independent assortment.

I have been able to apply Mendel’s principles to examples with incomplete dominance and the co-dominance relationship of alleles and multiple alleles, from the face variation assignment. I have explored inheritance patterns i.e. incomplete dominance, co-dominance, multiple alleles, and polygenic traits. I have also learned that characteristics are determined by the interaction between genes and the environment (Hasan 36-47).