SPACE BUG GENETICS

Human Reproduction
Activity on Basic Genetics

Name: Regine Dela peña Date: 06/22/22

I. Introduction:
Imagine you are working with a team of scientist and discover the new organism. This organism
shows many characteristics with insects but the species also has very strange traits because the new
organism looks like bug from outer space. Your team decided to call them space bug genetics. You and
your team deduced that the bugs inherit traits according to the principle of Genetics discovered by
Mendel.
Today you will use your knowledge in genetics to construct a model of a space bug. You been
looking for 7 characteristics of space bugs for each characteristic there are 2 traits.

II. Objectives;
1. Build model to further your understanding of inheritance
2. Examine the traits of a population of offspring
III. Materials:
Clay (green and black)
Round pins
Marshmallow (large)
Fuzzy wire
Push pins (green and blue)
Toothpicks (red and green)
Paper cup and scissors
IV. Procedures
1. Refer to table I entitled “Space Bugs Family traits”. You can see that there are seven
characteristics of space bug, for each characteristic there are two traits and the allele
for dominant trait is written in capital letter and the allele for recessive trait is in small
letter.
2. Enter the mother and father phenotypes in table II entitled “Space Bugs Parents
Traits”. Take a look of the materials you brought. You will make a model of a mother
space bug and one will make a model of a father space bug according to the
phenotype indicated in table II.
3. Use the toothpick to attach the body segments and the legs to the body until you
created the first generation of space bug. Base on the model you created as parents
bug you are going to determine which trait the offspring will inherit.
4. Write down the alleles in a square piece of paper each parent has for one
characteristic. For example, write the capital R in one piece and small r in another
piece. Do the same for the alleles of another parent. Then fold up and place in a cup.
5. Pick one piece of paper from the cup. The alleles of a trait from the cup are the
alleles that the offspring inherited from the parents.
6. Write down the alleles the space bug received from each parent on the table III
entitled “Baby Bug Traits” then continue selecting allele of the offspring one at time.
7. After the offspring allele from one parent has been determined, select the allele
from the second parent. Work together to come up for the phenotype of the space bug
offspring and create a model for a baby bug according to the characteristics you
entered in table III.
8. After creating a model of a Space Bug Family place it next to each other, there is
definitely a family resemblance there.
 Work Sheet

Space Bugs Family Traits

Characteristics Traits and Alleles

Antennae color Red (R) Green (r)

# of body segments 3 body segments (S) 2 Body segments (s)
Tail shape Curly (C) Straight (c)
# of leg pairs 3 pairs (L) 2 pairs (l)
Nose color Blue (B) Green (b)
Foot color Green (G) Black (g)
# of eyes 2 pair of eyes (E) 3 pairs of eye (e)

Space Bug Parent’s Traits

Mother Genotype Mother Phenotype Father Genotype Father Phenotype

Rr Red antennae Rr Red antennae

ss 2 body segments Ss 3 body segments
cc Straight tail Cs Curly tail
Ll 3 leg pairs Ll 3 leg pairs
BB Blue nose Bb Blue nose
Gg Green foot Gg Green foot
Ee 2 pair of eyes ee 3 pair of eyes

Baby Bug Traits

Alleles Characteristics
1. rr Green Antennae
2. ss 2 body segments
3. Cc Curly tail
4. LI 3 leg pairs
5. BB Blue nose
6. GG Green foot
7. Ec 2 pairs of eyes
V- Picture of Space Bug Model:

Place the picture of the “Space Bug Family” inside the box

VI. Analysis: Use Punnett square to prove your answer

1. When a curly tail (Cc) space bug is crossed with a straight tail (cc) space bug, what ratio of the
curly tail is to straight tail? 2:2

C c

c Cc cc

c Cc cc
2. A heterozygous blue nose space bug is crossed with a homozygous green nose. What
percentage of the offspring will be homozygous for nose color? 50%

B b

b Bb bb

b Bb bb

3. What would be the genotypes of the parent space bug if they produced 75% green colored foot
space bug and 25% black footed space bug? Gg x Gg

GG & Gg = green, gg=black

G g Green= 75%, black= 25%

G GG Gg

g Gg gg

4.In a dihybrid cross between # of body segments and # of eyes of space bug, what is the
possible ratio between dominant genes over recessive genes. Show your cross. 9:3:3:1

SE Se sE se

SE SSEE SSEe SsEE SsEe

Se SSEe SSee SsEe Ssee

 sE SsEE SsEe ssEE ssEe

se SsEe Ssee ssEe ssee

S= 3 body segments

s= 2 body segments

E= 2 eye pairs

e= 3 eye pairs

5.State the Laws of inheritance that G. Mendel stablished.

1. Law of Segregation - Each inherited trait is determined by a gene pair.

2. Law of Independent Assortment - To ensure that the inheritance of one feature is
independent of the inheritance of another, various traits' genes are arranged differently from one
another.
3. Law of Dominance - When a gene exists in two different forms in an organism, the dominant
form expresses.