NAME_____________________PER_____
MUGGLE OR MAGIC: A
HUMAN PEDIGREE LAB
In humans and certain other animals, we are interested in what genetic traits their ancestors
had. A diagram showing our ancestral lines is called a pedigree or family tree.
In such a diagram, males are represented by squares and females by circles. A square and a
circle joined by a horizontal line represents a marriage (or in animals, a mating). Squares and
circles connected to this line represent offspring.
The squares and circles can be labeled with the names of the people if so desired. There are
several methods that can be used to indicate what trait each person has. If you are doing
phenotypes, you can fill in the shapes with different colors. If you are doing genotypes, clear
can be pure (homozygous) recessive, colored in can be pure (homozygous) dominant and half
colored in can be heterozygous dominant. With genotypes, it is often easier to just write the
letters inside the shape. That is what you will do.
If a person's trait in the pedigree is not known, a question mark is usually written inside the
shape.
Here is a sample pedigree showing 3 generations:
What are the relationships between…
1 and 5: Mother (1) and Son (5)
1 and 2______________________
1 and 10 _____________________ 4 and 5 ______________________
3 and 5 ______________________ 5 and 8 _____________________
8 and 10 ___________________ __1 and 3 ______________________
Now that you have had a chance to familiarize yourself with a pedigree chart, you will now
apply what you have learned about genetics in the construction of a pedigree for the
characters in the “Harry Potter” series.
Assume that magical ability (m) is a recessive to non-magical ability (M). A person without
any magical abilities is also known as a Muggle. Based on the key and character information
please complete the following problems…
1. If Mr. and Mrs. Weasley are respectively a wizard and a witch (have the magical ability what
are their genotypes? _____________
What are the genotypes of their children? (Bill, Charlie, Percy, Fred, George, Ron, and
Ginny)____________
Draw a pedigree for the WHOLE Weasley family.
2. Now let’s look at Hermione Granger’s family. Hermione is a witch but her parents are
both muggles. What are the genotypes for the three member of the Granger family?
Mom _______________
Dad____________
Hermione_______
Draw a pedigree for the Granger family.
3. Finally draw a family pedigree of three generations of Harry Potter’s family. Harry is a wizard, his
father, James, was a wizard and his mother, Lily, was a witch. Both of Harry’s dad’s parents had
magical abilities, however, Harry’s mother’s parents did not nor does her sister, Harry’s Aunt,
Petunia. Petunia is married to Vernon and they have a son, Dudley. None of the Dursleys have
magical powers. Please write the known genotypes below the corresponding individual. For those
who only one allele is known, write the known allele and a question mark. Complete the on a
separate sheet and attach that to the back of this paper.