This week, we have delved into the subject of Mendelian genetics. As part of this, we embarked on an experimental journey where we analyzed some of our own genetic traits as well as those of our parents and siblings. The traits that we evaluated included the ability to roll one's tongue, the presence or absence of a widow's peak, hitchhiker's thumb, and attached or unattached earlobes. In my family, everybody I tested had very similar results. The only difference was my brother Kevin has no widow's peak whereas everybody else does. This surprised me a little because I don't look similar to my sister or my brother but it turns out we share several traits. The only genotype I was able to confirm 100% was my genotype for hitchhiker's thumb which is homozygous recessive. Since hitchhiker's thumb is a recessive trait, in order for my phenotype to be a hitchhiker's thumb my genotype must be homozygous recessive. I was able to determine that both of my parents' genotype for the widow's peak is heterozygous since there is a mix of widow's peaks and no widow's peaks amongst my siblings and me. Since I was unable to analyze my grandparents and therefore unsure of my parents' other genotypes, I was unable to conclude my genotype for all of the other traits because the other traits I have that we looked at are all dominant so they could be homozygous dominant or heterozygous. While I was researching which traits were dominant, I learned that many of the more obscure genetic traits are actually dominant. One example of this is dwarfism. The word recessive sounds like it should be associated with less common traits, but this often is not true. Now please sit back, relax, and watch me take a whirl at making a (championship) pedigree for my family.
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