Henry Palmer

Science
2/7/17
What makes us different from each other?

DNA makes us different from each other. The traits we have and the DNA in our body
make us who we are. We inherit the alleles from our parents to get the physical traits that we
have. One way scientists can track the possible traits is by using a punnett square. For
example, say widow's peak is a dominant trait:

The letter on the top of the punnett square (Ww) show the males alleles for this trait. The letters
on the left side of the punnett square (ww) show the females alleles for this trait. The letters
inside the punnett square the the possible allele combinations for the offspring of these two
organisms. There is a 50% chance the offspring will have the trait and a 50% chance the
offspring will not have a widows peak. The possible allele combinations are (no widow's peak)
homozygous recessive (ww) and (widows peak) heterozygous (Ww).
Another way to track the traits is by using a pedigree.
This pedigree shows the families genotypes and phenotypes for this trait. The circles represent
females and the squares represent males. Each generation (Parents, Kids) are all in a line
horizontally. The red shapes means that they are affected by the trait. The organisms below the
first generation are there offspring. Both punnett squares and pedigrees help show the traits
people have which make us different.
Another way DNA makes us different from each other is mutations. A mutation is when a
gene changed. There are three types of mutations, Substitution, Deletion, and Addition.
Substitution is when an allele gets substituted for a different one. Deletion is when a a base pair
is removed. Addition is when an extra base pair gets added to the original DNA sequence.
Mutations can have no effect or they can change a trait which can result in making someone
different from each other.
GMOs also make organisms different from each other. There are three main types of
GMOs. Selective Breeding, Cloning, and Genetic Engineering. Selective Breeding is when two
organisms are selected to breed. There are two types of selective breeding, inbreeding, and
hybridization. Inbreeding is when two organisms with similar traits breed. Their offspring will
most likely have genetic disorders because they are very genetically similar. Hybridization is
when two genetically different organisms are bred. Their offspring usually have the best traits
from the parents. Genetic Engineering is when genes from an organism are transferred to
another organism. Cloning is when an organism's genes are copied to produce a clone of the
organisms. Lastly, most organisms are different, and DNA is the reason for that.