Mendelian Genetics: It Makes You Special

As of late, in Biology, we have been studying Mendelian genetics. Mendelian genetics helps us all determine what genetic traits our parents, our siblings, and we possess. All of our traits are determined by alleles. An allele is a form of a gene, and you receive allele from each parent which could be either a dominant or recessive trait. If you receive two dominant alleles, then you are homozygus dominant and will express that trait. If you inherit a dominant and a recessive allele then you are heterozygus and will express the dominant trait. If you adapt only recessive alleles, then you are homozygus recessive and will express the recessive trait. And so, with the help of Mendelian genetics, a few experiments and my wonderful volunteers, I was able to find the genotypes (allele combination) of my mother, father, and younger brother, Cayden.

Traits	Cuyler	Cayden	Carl	Stephanie
Tongue Roller	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Un-Attached Earlobe	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Hitch Hiker’s Thumb	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Widow’s Peak	Yes	Yes	No	Yes

Hitch-Hiker's thumbs up. D00d.

So, with the information provided by this chart, I can conclude that, since tongue rolling is dominant, both my are either homozygus dominant or heterozygus, and both my brother and I are homozygus dominant or heterozygus. I also know, since and un-attached earlobe is a dominant trait as well, that both my parents are either homozygus dominant or heterozygus, and both my brother and I are homozygus dominant or heterozygus. However, since a hitch hiker's thumb is a recessive trait and only my father possess it, it must mean that my mother is homozygus recessive and my father homozygus dominant, which leaves Cayden and me to be heterozygus. Finally, because a widow's peak is a dominant trait and only my mother possess it, then                          
my father is homozygus recessive and my mother is homozygus dominant, and again, leaves Cayden and me to heterozygus. I'm sure there are many other traits in my family that have been passed down for generations, but as you can see, my results for this small experiment aren't very out of the ordinary, which makes sense because we are all family members. However, genetic traits can differ from household to household, which is why Mendelian genetics makes us different in our own funky, little way.