Weekly Wrap UP -- 1/12/18 Genetics

MarioFan has wrapped up learning about Genetics.  Last week we learned about karyotyping and did a lab seeing if we were any good at it:)  It is much harder than it looks

using our Whiz Kids DNA kit we learned what Karyotyping is and how to do it

We got about half way though before we we hit a wall with recognizing matching chromosomes.  So we did have to peek at the answers 

Our finished work!

MarioFan has also been viewing videos and reading about gene mutations and that whole process.  We have mostly been working on worksheets on this as I haven't found any cool experiments for this area.  MarioFan has been very vocal about the lack of science experiments during this part of our science lessons:(

We also put together a poster on DNA, RNA and Genetics.  I really feel finding the sources online and discussing how to lay out the poster really brings home the learning for a topic:)

We also worked on understanding applied Genetics and completed the following lab.

I found this lab off the internet and it was free 

We took two strands of Plasmid DNA (e. Coli) and Human DNA and placed them in a bag to represent the Nucleus

Removing the DNA from the bag and then coloring in the piece we plan to remove from the E Coli and add it to the Human DNA

We did the same for the Human DNA (except colored it a different color) 

Next we added the Plasmid strand to the Human DNA to make a complete strand and returned it to the  Bag (nucleus)

We learned this process is used in labs to make insulin, human growth hormones  for medical needs of people.  We also discuss how this method is used to improve certain traits for food and animals.

The next lab we did to help understanding hybridization we examined fruit that has mutated naturally over time.  With a little research I found a new (to me) fruit called Tangelo (citrus fruit) which is a hybrid of a tangerine and red grapefruit.  However I looked everywhere for one in our area and could not find one.  Then a very sweet grocery employee told me that Cara Cara are hybrids of two different navel oranges.  I looked it up and sure enough he was correct and luckily those I could find in the store, only this time I couldn't find the two different navel oranges that made the Cara Cara hybrid so I did what any other Homeschool Mom does I improvised a little:) so to get the idea across to MarioFan:)

The middle one is the Cara Cara citrus fruit.  the left is a red grapefruit and the right is a California navel orange

Cutting open the fruit and comparing the peel, color, and taste of each item.  The Cara Cara is the bottom one.  Its fruit color on the inside closely resembles the red grapefruit

But it tastes closer to the Navel orange.  And we found a new fruit to eat as it was very good!

I am still looking for a Tangelo as they are suppose to be in the stores from Dec to March in the hopes of redoing this lab using the correct fruit that makes the hybrid but this was close enough and we discussed hybridization and still learned a great deal:)

This has wrapped up our Hereditary and Genetics unit.  Next in Science we are going to learn about Evolution!