Name: London Mason Date: Apr-22-24

Student Exploration: Mouse Genetics (One Trait)

Directions: Follow the instructions to go through the simulation. Respond to the questions and
prompts in the orange boxes.

Vocabulary: allele, DNA, dominant allele, gene, genotype, heredity, heterozygous, homozygous, hybrid,
inheritance, phenotype, Punnett square, recessive allele, trait

Prior Knowledge Questions (Do these BEFORE using the Gizmo.)

1. The image shows a single litter of kittens. How are they similar to
one another?

They are all cats and all have white

2. How do they differ from one another?

Different colors

3. What do you think their parents looked like?

One black and one calico or ginger

Gizmo Warm-up
Heredity is the passage of genetic information from parents to offspring.
The rules of inheritance were discovered in the 19th century by Gregor
Mendel. With the Mouse Genetics (One Trait) Gizmo™, you will study how
one trait, or feature, is inherited.

1. Drag two black mice into the Parent 1 and Parent 2 boxes. Click Breed
to view the five offspring of these parents.

What do the offspring look like? All black

The appearance of each mouse is also called its phenotype.

2. Click Clear, and drag two white mice into the parent boxes. Click Breed several times. What is the
phenotype of the offspring now?

ss

3. Do you think mouse offspring will always look like their parents? Explain:

Yes, if they are bred with the same purebred mouse.

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 Activity A: Get the Gizmo ready:
● Click Clear.
Patterns of ● Drag a black mouse and a white mouse into the
inheritance parent boxes, but don’t click Breed yet.

Question: What patterns are shown by offspring traits?

1. Predict: What do you think the offspring of a black mouse and a white mouse will look like?

a mix between black and white

2. Observe: Click Breed several times. What do you see?

they are all black

3. Observe: Drag two offspring into the Holding Cages. These mice are called hybrids because their parents
had different traits. Click Clear, and then breed the two hybrids.

What do you see now? White comes up time to time

4. Experiment: Turn on Show statistics. Click Breed until there are 100 offspring.

How many offspring were black? 78 How many were white? 22

5. Explore: Try other combinations of mouse parents. Write the results of each experiment in your notes.
When you have finished, answer the following questions. (Note: You can refer to the parents as “pure
black,” “pure white,” or “hybrid.”)

A. Which parent combination(s) yield only Pure white and pure white
white offspring?

B. Which parent combination(s) yield only Hybrid and hybrid, pure black and pure
black offspring? black. Pure white and pure black

C. Which parent combination(s) yield a Hybrid and hybrid.

mixture of black and white offspring?

6. Challenge: Based on experiments similar to these, Gregor Mendel devised a theory of inheritance. Use
your own observations to come up with your own explanation of how a trait such as fur color is passed
down from parents to offspring. If possible, discuss your theory with your classmates and teacher.

Some traits are hidden because they are recessive, like white fur. Some traits are more seen
because they’re dominant like how black fur is. Hybrid mice, that have both traits, bring up a
mix of black and white

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 Get the Gizmo ready:
Activity B:
● Click Clear.
Genetics basics ● Drag a black mouse and a white mouse into the
parent boxes.

Introduction: Inherited traits are encoded on a molecule called DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid). Genes are
segments of DNA that control a particular trait. Most genes have several different versions, or alleles. The
genotype is the allele combination an organism has.

Question: How do alleles determine fur color?

1. Observe: Turn on Show genotype. Move your cursor over a mouse to see its genotype.

A. What is the genotype of the black parent? FF White parent? ff

These mice are homozygous for fur color, meaning both alleles are the same.

B. Click Breed. What is the genotype of the offspring mice? Ff

These mice are heterozygous for fur color, meaning the alleles are different.

2. Analyze: Dominant alleles are always expressed when present. Recessive alleles are not expressed
when the dominant allele is also present. Look at the two alleles for fur color.

A. Which allele is dominant, and which fur color does FF, produces black
it produce?

B. Which allele is recessive, and which fur color does ff, produces white
it produce?

3. Predict: Place two of the Ff offspring into the Holding Cages. Click Clear, and then place them into the
parent boxes.

A. Which allele(s) could the offspring inherit from Ff, Fff, FF

parent 1?

B. Which allele(s) could the offspring inherit from Ff, ff,FF

parent 2?

C. What are the possible genotypes of the offspring? FF, Ff, ff

4. Experiment: Click Breed several times, and look at the genotypes of the offspring. Did you find all the
predicted genotypes? Explain.

Yes, because the parent mice are hybrids and they can get all traits

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 Activity C: Get the Gizmo ready:
● Click Clear.
Modeling ● Drag a black mouse and a white mouse into the
inheritance parent boxes.

Question: How do scientists predict the genotypes of offspring?

F F

1. Model: Scientists use a Punnett square to model the different possible f Ff Ff

offspring genotypes from a parent pair. The parent genotypes are written
across the top and side of the square, as shown. The four possible f Ff Ff
offspring genotypes are then filled in.
The first square is filled in for you. Fill in the remaining squares.

A. What are the genotypes of the offspring? Heterozygous

B. What percentage of the offspring will have black fur? 100

C. What percentage of the offspring will have white fur? 0

2. Experiment: Click Breed several times.

Were your predictions correct? yes

3. Model: Use the Punnett squares below to model each parent combination. After filling in each Punnett
square, predict the percentages of black and white offspring.

Parent 1: Heterozygous black (Ff) Parent 1: Heterozygous black (Ff)

Parent 2: Heterozygous black (Ff) Parent 2: Homozygous white (ff)

F f F f

F FF Ff f Ff ff

f Ff ff f Ff ff

50
Predicted % black offspring: 75 Predicted % black offspring:

Predicted % white offspring: 25 Predicted % white offspring: 50

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4. Experiment: Turn on Show statistics and Show as approximate percentage. For each combination,
breed approximately 500 offspring. Record the results in the table below.

(Hint: To obtain an Ff mouse, breed an FF mouse to an ff mouse. Place two Ff offspring into the holding
cages, click Clear, and then drag the Ff mice into the parent boxes.)

Parent 1 Parent 2
% Black offspring % White offspring
Genotype Genotype

Ff Ff 72 28

Ff ff 49 51

5. Draw conclusions: How well did the Punnett squares predict the offspring percentages for each parent
pair?

It did okay, for the first one, it got pretty close to 75 for black offspring. And for the second
one, it got pretty close to 50 for white offspring.

6. Summarize: In your own words, describe what heredity is and how it works in mice.

Heredity is the passing of traits from one child to another. If two homozygous mice breed, FF
and ff, there will be 0% of white children because that black (FF) trait is dominant. If we breed
two heterozygous mice however (Ff), we will have a 25% chance of a white baby because
that white fur trait is recessive

7. Think and discuss:

Do you think most traits are inherited the way mouse fur color is? Why do you think this is?

I think it is because we all have these traits in us somewhere, like if both my parents have
brown hair as the dominant trait but I come out with blonde hair because they both have the
recessive gene of blonde hair

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