Introduction:My topic is “hereditary.
” I have always been interested in genetics,and this is a large branch of genetics. In this report I also plan to speakabout evolution. I would like to learn more about what causes specifictraits and what the future might bring. Body:A person gets his or her traits from their parents.
These traitsinclude everything from the person’s sex to their mental abilities orproblems. These traits are hereditary because they are passed on throughgenes. They get these genes from their parents and grandparents. They mayinherit innate abilities of their parents, such as an affinity for music.
Another factor in who you are is the environment you live in. Theenvironment you are in may affect how you develop. For instance, if youhave a talent for music, but have no way to acquire instruments, then it isdoubtful that you will ever discover your talent with music. Physically,you may have great potential as a runner, but, if you do not get enough toeat, then it is doubtful that you will ever live up to your potential.
Traits such as what you look like are inherited from your parents. Your potential is also inherited from your parents. Chromosomes contain theinformation of a person’s potential height, potential strength againstdisease, and other physical characteristics. A human being has 23 pairs of chromosomes in every cell in his or herbody (except reproductive cells).
If, during a stage of growth, a fetussomehow loses one of these chromosomes, the baby may die, or have a birthdefect. Since this error is written on their genes, they may pass it on totheir children, who may or may not have anything wrong with them. The way a person looks, as I have stated, is hereditary. In humans,brown eyes are dominant. Thus, if a person with brown eyes and a recessiveblue eye gene were to marry someone with similar genes, it is most likelytheir children would have brown eyes.
A chart is used to show thepossibilities:A diagram like that could be used to find out what the eyes of acouples children would be. The reason “B” is capitalized is because it is adominant trait, and the reason “b” is not capitalized is because it is arecessive trait. Thus the possible combinations are BB (25% chance), or pure brown eyes,Bb (50% chance), or a hybrid whose children may have blue eyes, or bb (25%chance), or pure blue eyes. There is a 75% chance that the child will havebrown eyes. The same chart may be used for a number of traits, but in higheranimals, such as humans, there are variations.
For instance if a person whohas light brown eyes has a child with a person who has dark brown eyes, thechild’s eyes are likely to be medium brown. The charts are still validthough, because not all traits are compatible. Recessive genes do not visibly show up when there is a dominant genepresent. A hybrid is a person who has both a dominant and recessive gene.
Their appearance is that of a person who has no recessive gene, but theycarry the recessive gene, and it is possible their children will also. There are also times when there is a compromise. If two genes are bothdominant, the resulting offspring will have a blend of those genes. Forexample, a black rooster and a white hen mate, and the resulting offspringare gray. The same can be said for people.
Genes are made of deoxyribonucleic acid, or DNA for short. DNA isshaped like a double helix, and, through combinations of adenine, thymine,guanine, and cytosine, a gene is made. DNA determines who you are and whatyour potential is. It is a well-known fact that drugs and alcohol can damage the fetus. The drugs may damage chromosomes in the fetus, which may develop into adeformity, mental problems, or even addiction to the drug.
It is alsopossible that a drug damaged the father’s sperm cells, which damagedinversely damaged the fetus. This information may be used for genetic engineering or crossbreeding. If a person where to crossbreed a type of cucumber that has agood resistance to disease, but tastes bad, and a cucumber with no immunitythat tastes good, you may get a good tasting disease resistance cucumber.Then again you may get disease prone bad tasting
