Biology S1002E (Summer 2002)
Homework Set #2 -- Due: July 5th, by noon
Roger B. Blumberg (rbb@brown.edu)

1. Look at Mendel's experiment #2 on page 17 of his paper (using the www.esp.org version). How did he know he had 16 Aabc and 78 AaBbCc forms? I.e. when he writes "...further investigation showed..." what did he mean? Be as specific as possible.

2. Suppose you have two inbred strains of rabbits. One strain is white with long ears, and the other is brown with short ears. You cross the two strains and get an F1, and then an F2. The F1 generation is all white with long ears.

3. Describe Mendelian "independent assortment" and "random segregation" in terms of meiosis. What is the meaning of "gene" that this implies?

4. Start with Morgan's white-eyed male and a homozygous red-eyed female. How would you generate progeny that would be (in theory at least) 100% white-eyed? Include all the charts/diagrams/squares in your answer.

5. Using Sturtevant's paper, do the following:

6. In the second section of his 1923 essay, "THE BEARING OF MENDELISM ON THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES," Morgan writes of a notable advance in our understanding that genetics has provided since Darwin wrote. What is the advance and why does Morgan think it so significant?

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© 2002 Roger B. Blumberg