Evolution Web Quest

1.  Life on Earth began with simple chemistry.  However, it is much more than simple.  First of all, the 'ingredients' had to be under certain circumstances.  Also, the ingredients are more delicate than just putting it altogether.  They were mixed in a certain order rather than randomly.  However, in the early Earth, formation of life was bound to happen.

2. In the interactive simulation "Evolution in Action," you are in control of the creatures.  Their traits are represented by seven different colors, and must correspond to the background color respectively.  You get to control and change the background, making it so that other colored creatures will die off in a matter of seconds, whereas the same color creatures thrive and reproduce.  However, there is a 20% chance that the offspring will result in a mutation, and it will be a different colored creature of random selection.  These creatures have between 5-20 seconds to reproduce, and die off 5 seconds after they reproduce.  This is a simple yet near accurate description of how an environment works but the definitive factors are fixed, therefore making the game the same all the way through.  Also, you have the ability to move the creatures to a different area to discourage clumping together.

GATTACA Movie Post

"They have you looking so hard for flaws that in the end that is all you look for" - Vincent, after a confession to Irene 


This quote relates to the movie because everyone was looking for flaws in other people's DNA. They are looking for anything that would make them in-valid or valid. The quote shows how other people are looking for ways to discriminate against more people. Also, it relates to how flaws in peoples genetics in the movie puts them in two categories, the valid and the in-valid people.

Response to GATTACA Quote

"You can go to great lengths with this guy's helix" -Man who brings Jerome to Vincent
In this quote, the man who introduces Vincent to Jerome refers to Vincent becoming an impersonation on Jerome. His reference to a helix structure most likely means Jerome's DNA. The man recommends Vincent take over the Jerome persona, and transform himself. By doing so, he can fake his way as the perfect valid, and bypass the limits held on invalids. This means he can truly go to true lengths, whether he is Jerome, or just Vincent.

One of a Kind: The Wonders of Biodiversity

I am experimenting with the broccoli calabrese.  It is a delicate little stalk of green that, within enough time and resources, can grow into a magnificent grassy green mini-jungle.

I can infer that the organisms from which my plant descended from are similar to that of my plant because the traits and characteristics of derived from the parent plants. I can predict that the offspring of my plant will most likely be green because that seems to be a dominant trait. Also they are more likely to be tall stalks than short ones. The offspring will have a high chance of receiving these traits because the traits will pass down from the parent cells to the offspring through meiosis, the production of gamete cells. These cells carry the genes that hold the traits. However, the offspring may not look exactly like my plant, but it will relatively be the same. They will look a little different because of crossing-over and independent assortment.

The Brassica oleracea is the ancestral plant of my plants and also my classmates' plants.  However, our plants have many differences.  This is because of the genes being altered through generations and generations of independent assortment and crossing-over.  Over time, there will be many variations derived from this ancient plant, one such example being the Broccoli Calabrese.

One of a Kind:The Wonders of Biodiversity

        Our group has been experimenting with the plants grown from broccoli calabrese seeds, which turned out to be very thin, short plants with large leaves. Just by looking at these plants, we can predict that they were descended by really short plants with large leaves. We can predict, using a punnet square with the plants genotypes, that the traits of the offspring will be short with large leaves because in their "family" these are dominant traits. The offsprings will recieve these traits through their parents gametes joining together and the way their genes line up during independent assortment. The plant we are experimenting with will pass on the genetic information onto the next generation through a process known as meiosis where four new and different haploid daughter cells, which are mated and the genes are passed on to the next generation. Our plants offsprings might look like them or probably not because of process known as crossing-over, where chromatids of homologous chromosomes pair up forming an x and then they are broken into segments. These segments are then exchanged with the other chromatid of the homologous chromosome. So many different forms of came to be from just one ancestral species because of meiosis and it's creation of four geneticly different haploid daughter cells.  

                   

Meiosis Model!

This link shows a picture of the begining of meiosis when the DNA synthesizes.

This is a picture of prophase I when the nuclear mambrane dissolves and homologous chromosomes start to move together.
This is a picture of when the homologous chromosomes pair up.

This is a picture of the homologous chromosomes that may do crossing over, which is giving parts of their chromatids to the other chromosome.

This is a picture of metaphase I when the spindle fibers attach to the chromosomes.

This is a picture of anaphase I which splits the cell into two genetically different daughter cells.

This is a picture of the two cells that are to then go on and divide one more time each to create four genetically different daughter cells.

This is a picture of the four haploid daughter cell that are made at the end of 

meiosis which would become sperm cells for men or eggs for women.

Wonders of Biodiversity

The plant that we were experimenting with was the broccoli calabrese. From what I can tell the broccoli's parents plants were short and had large leaves. The way I would be able to predict The traits of the parents plant's offspring would be to use a punnet square with the genotypes. The way that I would be able to tell that the offspring would get these traits from their parents is from their parents gametes joining and how the genes would line up in independent assortment. The parents would pass their genetic information by meiosis, which would create new haploid daughter cells by mating and passing on the information. The offspring would look like a mix of their parents sometimes more than others depending it the genes that the plant got were dominant or recessive. The plants can look different or the same as their parents because of the alleles that the offspring got from them. The Brassica plants all look different because of their parents genes that were passed on to them could be more dominant or recessive than the other plants. There are among 3,000 species of the Brassica plants known to man.