GENETICS NAME Ryan C Arp

The Genetics of
Blood Type
Introduction: What is a Blood Type?

In 1900, Dr. Karl Landsteiner, a scientist in Vienna, was investigating blood

transfusions. He had observed that when blood from two people was mixed together,
one of two events occurred: the red blood cells from both people would freely
intermingle with no apparent reaction, or they would stick together in clumps. This
clumping was extremely dangerous if a person had received blood from another
person in transfusion. The clumps would clog small blood vessels. Tissues would not
receive oxygen and nutrients and wastes could not be carried away. This could cause
death.

Dr. Landsteiner found that the clumping

reaction was due to proteins on the surfaces of
red blood cells. He also found that people could
be grouped according to what kind of protein
was present on their red blood cells. He called
these four groups A, B, AB, and O. People in
group A have protein A on the surface of their red blood cells. People in group B
have protein B on the surface of their red blood cells. People in group AB have both
proteins A and B on the surface of their red blood cells. The remaining group, type
O, have neither protein A nor protein B on the surface of their red blood cells.

The A and B proteins on the surface of red blood cells determine what type of
blood a person can receive in a transfusion. That is, if you have type A blood, you
can receive a blood transfusion from a person with type A blood. No clumping will
occur. But if you have type A blood and receive a transfusion of type B blood,
clumping will occur. Likewise, if you have type B blood, you can receive blood from a
type B person, but not from a type A person. If you have type AB blood, you may be
able to receive blood from anyone. Since your blood cells contain type A proteins,
your blood will not form clumps with type A. And since you have type B proteins on
your red blood cells, your blood will not form clumps with type B proteins. If you
receive blood from a type O person, that blood has neither A nor B proteins with
which your blood could form clumps. Thus type AB blood is a universal recipient.

If you have type O blood, you may be able to give blood to anyone. Type O
blood is called the universal donor because it does not have the A or B proteins on
cells that would cause type B or type A or type AB blood to clump. However, since
people with type O blood have no A or B proteins on the red blood cells, they cannot
receive A or B blood. So type O blood can receive blood from only type O.
Purpose: To discover how human blood type is inherited and to further explore
dominant, recessive, and codominant inheritance.

1. Question: If you have one pair of genes that determines your blood type, where
did you get each of your two genes?
From your parents

2. Look at Figure 1. These are the three genes for determining different blood types.

3. Of these three, each individual only has two genes, although the genes may be
identical, for example, AA. In the chart below, list all of the combinations of genes
that could occur.

Gene
Combinations
AA
BB
OO
AB
AO
BO

Checkpoint
Dominant and Recessive Genes for Blood Type
4. Question: From the introductory reading, what are the four types of blood a
person might be? a. A
b. B
c. O
d. AB

5. The gene A is dominant over the gene O.

The gene B is dominant over the gene O.
The genes A and B are codominant.

6. Question: What does codominant mean?

Both of the genes are dominant and are show in the phenotype

7. Complete the table below.

Blood Type - Phenotypes Possible Gene Pair(s)

- Genotypes
A AA, Ao
B BB, Bo
AB AB
O OO

Checkpoint
8. Questions:
A. For which blood types would you know for certain which are the two genes
in your gene pair?
AB
B. Which blood type is an example of co-dominance?
AB Blood Type
C. Which blood type would each parent have to have to allow you to predict
with certainty that all children will have the same blood type?

Homozygous O
9. Define the following terms (you may use the textbook):
Homozygous
Having the same gene for a trait
Heterozygous
Having differentiating genes for the same trait
10. Looking at your table in #9, which possible gene pairs are heterozygous?
Which are homozygous?
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Checkpoint
Multiple Alleles and which Blood Type Genes will be used in
working out an Inheritance Problem
11. On a small piece of paper, write A. On a second piece, write B, and on a
third write O. These represent the 3 genes for blood type.

12. When there are three or more different genes determining a specific trait and
only two of the genes are carried by a person, the situation is called multiple
alleles.

13. Tightly fold and place the three pieces of paper in a cup and mix them up.
14. In order to determine which blood type will be carried by the father, have a team
member close his or her eyes and pick out a piece of paper. Type the letter that
is on the paper picked from the cup in the box on one of the male circles below.

15. Place the piece of paper back into the cup. Repeat step #15 for the other male
circle and for both female circles in the images below. These circles represent the
parents genes for blood type.
 The Role of Gametes in Carrying the Blood Type Genes
16. When a gamete is formed in the body, it carries only one gene of the gene pair -
never both of them.

17. Place one of the blood type genes marked male in one of the spermatozoa, and
the other male gene in the second spermatozoa below. You can copy and paste
the Google Drawing from above into the Google Drawings below.

18. Likewise, place one of the blood types genes marked female in each of the ova.
You can copy and paste the Google Drawing from above.
 Observations of various genes and Gametes
19. Look at your gametes, male and female together. Answer the following questions
based upon the genes in your gametes

A. What gene is found in each of the male gametes?

O, B
B. What is the blood type of the male in your example?
B

C. What are the genes found in each of the female gametes?

B, B
D. What is the blood type of the female in your example?
B

Checkpoint
Possible Blood types of the Offspring
20.It is a matter of chance as to which spermatozoa fertilizes which ovum.
Therefore, to predict all blood type possibilities, it is necessary to match each
ovum with each spermatozoan. Further, when a spermatozoon fertilizes an ovum,
the two blood type genes pair up to determine the blood type of the offspring.

21.Questions:
A. What are all of the possible blood types that the offspring could have?
Complete the Punnett Square below to determine the offspring.

B. Find the probablity of each of the following blood types, by stating how
many chances out of 4 the offspring would have for the blood type. For
instance if there is no way for your offspring to have Type O, then the
probability is 0.
1. Type A 0

2. Type B 4

3. Type AB 0

4. Type O 0

C. Which of your pairs are homozygous?

BB 2 of the pairs
D. Which of your pairs are heterozygous?
BO 2 of the pairs

Checkpoint