Date:

Names of Candidates:
Elijah Morris
Mariah Hill
Rasheda Hall
Shnanca Carter
Tavia Samuels
Zoisha Johnson

Problem Statement
Rodrigo receives a tan pet hamster for his birthday. 2 weeks later, Rodrigo is surprised to see his
hamster has given birth to 8 pups. Rodrigo decides to look after the pups until they are old
enough to be sold. Around 2 months later, Rodrigo observes that the pups vary in color, with 4
being black and tan, 2 being strictly tan, and 2 being strictly black. Rodrigo has suspicions that
the black coloration has to come from the unknown father of the pups.

Title: Genetics

Hypothesis: Based on the mother’s genotype, the father’s genotype would most likely be
homozygous dominant and homozygous recessive.

Aim: To determine if the father of the pups carries the heterozygous gene for black fur or the
homozygous dominant and homozygous recessive genes for black fur.

Background Information:

A gene is the basic physical and functional unit of heredity which is the sum of the
characteristics and potentialities genetically derived from one's ancestors. Genes are made up of
DNA. Some genes act as instructions to make molecules called proteins. However, many genes
do not code for proteins. Every person has two copies of each gene, one inherited from each
parent. Most genes are the same in all people, but a small number of genes (less than 1 percent of
the total) are slightly different between people. Alleles are forms of the same gene with small
differences in their sequence of DNA bases. These small differences contribute to each person’s
unique physical features. Like all animals, the genes that a hamster inherits from its parents,
affect the way it looks. The animal receives genetic information from its parents in their eggs or
sperm and, in the same way, passes the information on to its own offspring. Inside the hamster’s
cells are the chromosomes, which are tightly coiled lengths of DNA. The chromosomes are
paired; one of each pair was inherited from each parent. Chromosomes within a pair have the
same “slots” for genes coding for particular characteristics in the same order. The “options” for a
gene from a particular slot, (locus), are called alleles. For example, the allele Rx codes for rex
fur, but the allele Rx, (normal fur), may be found at the rex locus instead. Each locus can contain
only one of the possible alleles for a given gene, but the alleles for the same gene on the two
chromosomes in a pair can be the same as each other or different. An effective tool for
predicting the variations and probabilities of the genotypes and phenotypes of the offspring that
can result from cross-breeding is Punnett Square.

Materials/Apparatus: Two Beakers

Petri dishes

20 ( black, white, brown, grey) beads

Diagram:

Beaker 1 Beaker 2
unknown father’s mother’s genotype
genotype

Variables- Manipulate/independent- Color of the beads.

Responding/Dependent- The results that are obtained.

0 Controlled- The number of beads from each beaker.

Method:
 1. Place the black and grey beads in beaker one with the black beads representing
homozygous black dominant gene and the grey beans representing the black recessive
gene.
2. Place the brown and white beads into beaker 2 with the brown representing the tan
dominant gene and the white beads representing the recessive gene.
3. Randomly select beads from the two beakers and place them in Petri dishes.
4. Repeat 6 times.
5. Record all observations.

Treatment of Results:

The number of Beaker one Beaker two Results

times tested

Expected Results: It is expected that the father’s genotype would most likely be a
homozygous dominant and homozygous recessive gene.

Possible Sources of Error:

1. Mixing up the beads- If this happens you will be confused and the data you would have
obtained will be inaccurate.

2. Forgetting the number of times you are supposed to repeat- If this happens the data will
be inaccurate.

Precautions: Ensure to memorize which beads are for which parent

Ensure the beakers and Petri dishes don’t have cracks or holes.

Possible conclusion: It can be concluded that the unknown father of the hamsters does
possess the homozygous dominant and homozygous recessive genotypes.