Grade 9 Heredity and Genetics in-class Acitivity 1

Grade 9 Biology Name: _____________________________
Heredity and Genetics In-class Activity
Introduction
Today, you will be making your own fictional organism and crossing it
through several generations! You will create your parent generations and
then cross them to get your F1 and F2 generations. You must include at
least 10 traits. List them below, including the letter designating the
dominant and recessive alleles (remember: the alleles are named after
the dominant allele; for example, if tall is dominant and short is recessive,
tall is represented by T and short by t).
Trait Dominant allele Recessive allele

Hair Color Brown blonde
Eye color Brown blue
Hair texture Curly Straight
Earlobe type Free hanging attached
Freckles No freckles freckles
Dimples No Dimples dimples
Skin color White Dark
Handness Right handed Left handed
Height Tall short
Arm length Long short

Parent generation
To create your parent generation, make two organisms: one which is
homozygous dominant for all genes and one which is homozygous
recessive for all genes. Draw your two organisms below, labelling each
trait with its corresponding genotype.
Trait Genotype
•Hair Color BB (Brown)
•Eye color BB (Brown)
•Hair texture CC (Curly)
•Earlobe type FF (Free-hanging)
•Freckles FF (No freckles)
•Dimples DD (No dimples)
•Skin color DD (White)
•Handedness RR (Right-handed)
•Height TT (Tall)
•Arm length LL (Long)
Trait Genotype
•Hair Color bb (Blonde)
•Eye color bb (Blue)
•Hair texture cc (Straight)
•Earlobe type ff (Attached)
•Freckles ff (Freckles)
•Dimples dd (Dimples)
•Skin color dd (Dark)
•Handedness ll (Left-handed)
•Height tt (Short)
•Arm length ll (Short)
F1 generation
Now that you have your parent generation, you have to cross them to create
your F1 generation. Create two example offspring of your two parent
organisms and label as above with the offsprings’ genotypes. Remember,
the offspring will inherit one allele from each parent for each gene, so
they will be a mix from both parents!
Hair Color: Bb (Brown)

Eye Color: Bb (Brown)
Hair Texture: Cc (Curly)
Earlobe Type: Ff (Free-hanging)
Freckles: Ff (No freckles)
Dimples: Dd (No dimples)
Skin Color: Dd (White)
Handedness: Rl (Right-handed)
Height: Tt (Tall)
Arm Length: Ll (Long)
Hair Color: Bb (Brown)

Eye Color: Bb (Brown)
Hair Texture: Cc (Curly)
Earlobe Type: Ff (Free-hanging)
Freckles: Ff (No freckles)
Dimples: Dd (No dimples)
Skin Color: Dd (White)
Handedness: Rl (Right-handed)
Height: Tt (Tall)
Arm Length: Ll (Long)
F2 generation
Now, you will cross for your F2 generation. Using your two F1 organisms from
above, cross to find your F2 generation, drawing and labelling two
organisms with their genotype. Again, keep in mind the offspring will inherit
one allele from each parent for each gene.

 Hair Color: Bb (Brown)
 Eye Color: Bb (Brown)
 Hair Texture: Cc (Curly)
 Earlobe Type: Ff (Free-hanging)
 Freckles: Ff (No freckles)
 Dimples: Dd (No dimples)
 Skin Color: Dd (White)
 Handedness: Rl (Right-handed)
 Height: Tt (Tall)
 Arm Length: Ll (Long)
 Hair Color: bb (Blonde)

 Eye Color: bb (Blue)
 Hair Texture: cc (Straight)
 Earlobe Type: ff (Attached)
 Freckles: ff (Freckles)
 Dimples: dd (Dimples)
 Skin Color: dd (Dark)
 Handedness: ll (Left-handed)
 Height: tt (Short)
 Arm Length: ll (Short)
Thinking questions
1. Which phenotypes were visible in the F1 generation? Explain why.
Some of the visible phenotypes include:
 Hair Color:)
 Eye Color:
 Hair
 Earlobe
 Freckles:
 Dimples:
 Skin Color:
 Handedness:
 Height:
 Arm Length
The F1 offspring are heterozygous for each trait (one dominant allele and
one recessive allele). For example, for hair color, the genotype is Bb. The
dominant allele (B) for brown hair will mask the recessive allele (b) for blonde
hair, so the offspring will have brown hair. This pattern is true for all the traits
listed: the dominant allele determines the visible phenotype, even though
the recessive allele is present in the genotype. Since the F1 offspring are
heterozygous for all traits, they all express the dominant traits visually.
2. How would the presentation of traits change if the organism you

created had more than two chromosomes of each type? Explain.
The presentation of the traits would change if I have made more then
two chromosomes of each type by several ways like giving more alleles
for each trait increasing the genetic variation and a lot of different
other things this is because adding more chromosomes is going to lead
to more complex patterns and different things.
3. How would the results of this experiment (i.e., the phenotypes of the
F1 and F2 generations) have changed if you started with a
heterozygous parent generation? Why was it important for Mendel to
use homozygous parents in his pea plant experiments?
4. If the experiment started with a heterozygous parent generation instead of homozygous

parents, the phenotypes of the F1 and F2 generations would show more variation. In the
F1 generation, a mix of both dominant and recessive traits could appear, depending on
which alleles were inherited. In the F2 generation, there would be even more possible
combinations of alleles, leading to a more complex and varied set of phenotypes. Mendel
used homozygous parents in his pea plant experiments to ensure clear, predictable
inheritance patterns, allowing him to see how dominant and recessive traits were passed
down without the initial variability that heterozygous parents would introduce. This
helped him establish the basic laws of inheritance.
5. How can inbreeding lead to a higher rate of genetic illness? Refer to

your fictional organisms above, or to real life examples (for example,
many purebred dogs have issues with hip dysplasia, where the hip joint
does not properly fit together).
Inbreeding increases the rate of genetic illness because it raises the
likelihood that offspring will inherit two copies of harmful recessive
alleles. In a small gene pool, such as in your fictional organisms or
purebred animals, related individuals are more likely to carry the same
recessive alleles. When these individuals mate, there’s a higher chance
that the offspring will inherit two copies of a defective allele, leading to
genetic disorders. For example, purebred dogs often suffer from
conditions like hip dysplasia because generations of inbreeding
increase the frequency of these inherited health issues.

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Grade 9 Biology Name: _____________________________

Heredity and Genetics In-class Activity

Trait Dominant allele Recessive allele

Eye color Brown blue

Hair texture Curly Straight

Earlobe type Free hanging attached

Freckles No freckles freckles

Dimples No Dimples dimples

Skin color White Dark

Handness Right handed Left handed

Height Tall short

Arm length Long short

Hair Color: Bb (Brown)

Hair Color: Bb (Brown)

 Hair Color: bb (Blonde)

1. Which phenotypes were visible in the F1 generation? Explain why.

Some of the visible phenotypes include:

2. How would the presentation of traits change if the organism you

4. If the experiment started with a heterozygous parent generation instead of homozygous

5. How can inbreeding lead to a higher rate of genetic illness? Refer to

Inbreeding increases the rate of genetic illness because it raises the

likelihood that offspring will inherit two copies of harmful recessive

alleles. In a small gene pool, such as in your fictional organisms or

recessive alleles. When these individuals mate, there’s a higher chance

genetic disorders. For example, purebred dogs often suffer from

conditions like hip dysplasia because generations of inbreeding

increase the frequency of these inherited health issues.

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