Stickleback MendelianGenetics Student
Stickleback MendelianGenetics Student
MATERIALS
You will need:
F1 stickleback fish cards
F2 stickleback fish cards
Calculator
PROCEDURE
Watch the short film entitled The Making of the Fittest: Evolving Switches, Evolving Bodies and then proceed
through each part of this activity as instructed by your teacher.
2. If we start with the simplest assumption that the presence or absence of pelvic spines is controlled by a
single gene with two alleles, how would you denote the genotype of the two homozygous parents?
4. Based on your hypothesis, what would you expect to
be the results of the cross between the marine and Bear
Paw Lake stickleback parents? Make your prediction
using the Punnett square to the right.
5. What would be the ratio of stickleback with pelvic spines to stickleback without spines in the first filial (F1)
generation?
6. Using the Punnett square to the right, what do you
expect would be the result of crossing two F1 fish to
produce the second filial (F2) generation?
8. If you had 40 offspring in the F2 generation, approximately how many would you expect to have pelvic
spines and how many to lack pelvic spines?
Part 2Obtaining the Data: Do the Results from the Experiment Support Your Hypothesis?
Now you will use the fish cards provided by your teacher to see whether the result of the crosses described in
Part 1 support your hypothesis. The cards show photographs of stickleback fish that were stained with a
solution that turns bones red, making them easier to see. (If your cards are in black and white, the bones
should still be easier to see as they appear darker.) There should be two sets of cards: the first set (16 cards)
represents the first filial (F1) generation and the second set (40 cards) the second filial (F2) generation. You will
be sorting these cards according to whether the fish have pelvic spines.
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The Making of the Fittest:
Evolving Switches, Evolving Bodies STUDENT HANDOUT
4. What is the ratio of fish with pelvic spines to fish without pelvic spines in the F1 generation?
________________
5. What is the ratio of fish with pelvic spines to fish without pelvic spines in the F2 generation?
________________
6. Do these results support the hypothesis that the presence or absence of pelvic spines is controlled by a
single gene? Explain using evidence.
7. According to these results, which phenotype is dominant and which is recessive? Explain using evidence.
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The Making of the Fittest:
Evolving Switches, Evolving Bodies STUDENT HANDOUT
3. Compare the outcome of the F1 cross from Part 2 to the F1 data from Dr. Creskos experiments. Describe
similarities and differences.
Dr. Cresko then took the F1 offspring and conducted several crosses between them to produce the F2
generations. The results of the crosses with the F1 progeny from the Marine x Bear Paw Lake cross are shown
in Table 3. (Dr. Cresko also conducted crosses with the F1 progeny from the Marine x Boot Lake and Marine x
Whale Lake crosses, but those results are not shown here.)
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The Making of the Fittest:
Evolving Switches, Evolving Bodies STUDENT HANDOUT
Table 3. Crosses Between F1 Generation Stickleback from the Marine x Bear Paw Lake Parental Cross:
The F2 Generations
F2 Generation (A) Total (B) With Pelvic (C) Without (D) Ratio of Pelvic Spines
Offspring Spines Pelvic Spines to No Pelvic spines
Your cross
Family 1 98 71 27
Family 2 79 62 17
Family 3 62 49 13
Family 4 34 28 6
Family 5 29 24 5
Family 6 23 17 6
Family 7 21 17 4
Family 8 19 18 1
Family 9 15 11 4
Family 10 12 10 2
Family 11 12 10 2
Family 12 4 3 1
Total
4. In Table 3, add your F2 fish card data from Part 2 to the first row. Then add the totals for columns A, B, and
C and record these values in the last row.
5. Calculate the ratio of fish with pelvic spines to fish without pelvic spines (for example, 3:1 or 2.8:1) for each
family and for the total population. (Round your numbers to the first decimal place.) Record these calculations
in column D.
6. Look at the phenotype ratio for all of the crosses combined (bottom of column D). What does that ratio
suggest about the inheritance of the pelvic spine phenotype?
7. You will notice that the phenotype ratios vary from family to family. Explain why every family does not
show the same ratio.
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The Making of the Fittest:
Evolving Switches, Evolving Bodies STUDENT HANDOUT
1. State the null hypothesis. Use the numbers of the total F2 generation results in Table 3 in your response.
2. Perform a chi-square statistics test on the data for the Total Population in Table 3. Use the following
tables to aid your calculations:
Total Fish Population:
Phenotype Observed (o) Expected (e) (o e) (o e)2 / e
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The Making of the Fittest:
Evolving Switches, Evolving Bodies STUDENT HANDOUT
d. What do the results of this chi-square analysis tell you about the results obtained with these crosses?
3. Chi-square analysis can also be used to analyze the results from each individual cross. Using the F2
generation data from Table 3, perform a chi-square statistics test for Family 1.
Family 1:
Phenotype Observed (o) Expected (e) (o e) (o e)2 / e
d. What do the results of this chi-square analysis tell you about the results obtained with these crosses?
4. Using the F2 generation data again, perform a chi-square test for Family 8.
Family 8:
Phenotype Observed (o) Expected (e) (o e) (o e)2 / e
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The Making of the Fittest:
Evolving Switches, Evolving Bodies STUDENT HANDOUT
d. What do the results of this chi-square analysis tell you about the results obtained with these crosses?
5. If you had only carried out the Family 8 cross, what would you conclude about the inheritance of the
pelvic spine phenotype? Explain your answer.
6. If you look at the total population sampled, which includes 448 F2 fish, do the data support or refute the
hypothesis that the pelvic spine trait follows the inheritance of a phenotype encoded by a single gene with
two alleles, one dominant and one recessive? Explain in detail.
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The Making of the Fittest:
Evolving Switches, Evolving Bodies STUDENT HANDOUT
ENRICHMENT ACTIVITIES
You now know something about the inheritance of the pelvic spine trait and which phenotype is dominant
and which is recessive. You will now use this knowledge to further explore the genotype-phenotype
connection.
2. Now find the card for the F28 fish. Can you determine the pelvic spine genotype of this fish? Explain.
3. What type of fish would you cross the F28 fish with to determine its genotype? Explain.
4. Based on your answer to question 3 above, show the two possible outcomes of that test cross using the
Punnett squares below.
Cross A: Cross B:
5. What are the expected phenotype ratios for the two crosses above?
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The Making of the Fittest:
Evolving Switches, Evolving Bodies STUDENT HANDOUT
6. After crossing fish F28 with a fish lacking pelvic spines, imagine that 48 out of 100 offspring lack pelvic
spines. What can you assume about the genotype of the F28 fish based on this result? Explain.
1. In the space below, complete the Punnett square with the parents described above and show the F1
generation.
2. For the cross above, indicate the expected phenotype and genotype ratios for the F1 generation.
3. Now take two fish from your F1 generation and cross them. For each cross described in the table below, fill
in the possible outcomes. (Note: the letter x represents a cross.)
F1 Experimental Cross What is the chance of What will be the genotype
having an F2 offspring ratio of the F2 generation for
with spines? each cross?
Male with spines x female with spines
Male without spines x female with spines
Male without spines x female without
spines
Male with spines x female without spines
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