Gregor Mendel, a monk who lived in the 1800s and conducted scientific experiments throughout his life, is considered the father of modern genetics because of the remarkable observations he made while hybridizing pea plants. Mendel conducted cross-pollination and self-pollination studies on over 29,000 plants for nearly a decade, obtaining a large amount of data that helped him reach conclusions about certain patterns of inheritance. Use the data presented below to construct three scientific graphs —one bar graph, one scatterplot with trendline, and one pie chart —from each data set. A translation of Mendel‘s original publication can be read at the following Web site: http://www.mendelweb.org/Mendel.html
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*All graphs are required to have proper titles and axis labels.
Situation 1: Form of Seed - 7,324 hybrid seeds were produced in the F
2 generation from true-breeding, homozygous parents that produced only round seeds (RR) or only wrinkled seeds (rr). There were 5,474 round seeds produced as offspring from the F
2 generation and 1,850 wrinkled seeds. Graph the raw data on a bar graph, a line graph and a pie chart. Copy and paste each graph onto a Word document with your name at the top.
Situation 2: Color of Seed - 8,023 seeds were produced in the F
2 generation from true-breeding, homozygous parents that produced only yellow seeds (YY) or only green seeds (yy). There were 6,022 yellow seeds produced as offspring in the F
2 generation and 2,001 green seeds. Calculate the percentage of yellow seeds to green seeds and of green seeds. Graph the percentages on a bar graph, a line graph and a pie chart. Copy and paste each graph onto the same Word document.
Situation 3: Form of Seed and Color of Seed Combined - 556 seeds were produced in the F
2 generation from true-breeding, homozygous parents that produced only yellow, round seeds (YYRR) or only green, wrinkled seeds (yyrr). Of the 556 seeds produced, there were 315 yellow, round seeds produced as offspring in the F
2 generation; 108 yellow, wrinkled seeds; 101 green, round seeds; and 32 green, wrinkled seeds. Calculate the percentage of each type of offspring and graph the analyzed data using a bar graph, a line graph and a pie chart. Copy and paste each graph onto the same Word document.
Reflection Questions:
1. Which type of graph offers the quickest and most informative view of the outcome? Defend your answer.
2. Was it more informative to use the raw data or data that was converted into a proportion of the total?
Explain your answer.
3. Draw a Punnett square for each situation described above to show how the F
2 generation ratios were obtained from the parent generation given.
4. What are the possible genotypes for the F
2 generation of offspring produced in each situation described above?
5. What are the phenotypic ratios for each situation?