Hannah Lildharrie & Monica Moser Period 3 and 8

• How are traits controlled by dominant and recessive alleles?o A dominate allele always show up in an organism when the allele is

present. o A recessive allele, on the other hand, is masked when ever the dominant

allele is present. o A trait controlled by a recessive allele will only show up if the organism

does not have the dominate allele.

2. How are traits controlled with co- dominant alleles?• For some alleles, an inheritance pattern called co-dominance exists. • In co-dominance, the alleles are neither dominate or recessive. • As a result neither allele is masked in the offspring.

3. Explain how the alleles of the parents combine to express traits in offspring?o Geneticists use Punnett square to show all possible outcomes of a

genetic cross and to determine the probability of a particular outcome.

Geneticist use a Punnett squares to see the possible out comes of a genetic cross!

• The Human Genome Project started in 1990 and scientists want to use the information based on this project to find cures for sexually transmitted diseases or cancer.

• The main goal of the project is to identify the DNA Sequence of every gene in the human genome.

• The implications of the Human Genome Project Ethically are mixed, some are for Designer Babies, some are against it.

• Legally, the president, congress and the Supreme court had to see if the new project was okay enough to start.

• The social implications of the Human Genome project are mixed, some people think that the designer babies are posthumans, when some think they are people too.

• The Human Genome Project changed current genetic laws because of the need to look at a human genome.

• A single gene disorder is a mutation that occurs inside a single gene.(i.e. Cystic fibrosis)

• A chromosome abnormality is a disorder in which there is more or less chromosomes in a gene. (i.e. Down syndrome)

• A multifactorial disorder is a disorder in which diseases are related to environmental factors. (i.e. Heart Disease)

• Genetic counseling offers invaluable information to people whose unborn children are at risk for certain genetic diseases and birth defects—either before they are expecting or once they become pregnant.o Genetic counseling offers invaluable information to people whose unborn children

are at risk for certain genetic diseases and birth defects—either before they are expecting or once they become pregnant.

o A karyotype can reveal whether a developing baby has the correct number of chromosomes in it’s cell.

o Also, whether it’s a boy or girl.

Here is a video on designer babies!

• I think we shouldn’t have designer babies. One reason is because it would be less expensive to have a baby the old fashion way (the way we do today) then having to pay a lot of money to choose what traits they have. Just think the amount of money it would cost to have a child that you picked out. It might be like having a “perfect child.” But what happened to liking a person for whom he or she was. It would be unethical to change the personality of a person, to adjust to your own wants. I think you should love a person for who they were. There own genetic outcome.

• The basic idea of heredity is better than choosing what you want your baby look like, because by not choosing then the baby is more related to the parents then if you don’t pass on the genes for that trait. One thing special about having a child is “a little replica of themselves.” Most of the time when people see their children there is a family resemblance.

• I think we should have designer babies. If we were able to design our own babies we would be able to decide what sort of illnesses they will be naturally resistant to. This would be good because then we could be healthy and be resistant to all or almost all of the illnesses. To be able to protect people from the genetic mutations in the DNA would be a huge accomplishment.

• If we did have designer babies then you would at least have what you want for a child. It would almost be like having a perfect child! You also would know before what gender it was and what it would look like this would be good for naming the child. Sometimes parents’ name their child after it was born so they could tell what it looks like; for example a Taylor, Hannah, Cordelia ext.

• By having a designer baby everyone might look the same. Think about it; if everyone wanted a child that was tall then everyone would be tall. Or if everyone wanted to have a high IQ, not that this is not good but when something new is invented then it wouldn’t be a great achievement. We might never be unique with some traits. There also could be a possibility that two or more people could look the same! Maybe not exactly the same but you could have a child that looks like a another child from another mother. It wouldn’t be like a twin but a friend that looks the same!

• The con of the new thing is that you don’t know if your new baby could have genetic disorders or any other thing wrong with them, being that it is a sperm donation that has that allele.

• An important pro of the new invention is that you can choose what your child will look like before you have it. Like, you can choose its eye color, hair color and all of its physical attributes. The whole process is Genetic Engineering.

• Another pro for designer babies is that you don’t have to worry about particular trait being passed down for example a trait for cancer. By doing this geneticist won’t have to use a Pedigree.

My closing argument is that I am part for, part against Designer Babies and that through this research, it helps back up arguments about the pros and cons of the newest study. Many people think it is unnatural to do this because it wouldn't really have the same eyes as you, or be even technically yours. The heredity would be different. However, some people are excited to find out that we have this kind of technology to do this kind of research. They think that it is a next step to advanced genetic research and a whole new era in genetics.

A Poll on Designer Babies

• 41% furious• 24% thrilled • 12% laughing • 12% sad • 6% intrigued • 6% bored

• http://www.georgetownuniversityhospital.org/body.cfm?id=556426• http://www.nbclosangeles.com/the-scene/archive/Designer-Baby-Poll-Reveals-

Most-Popular-Skin-Eye-Colors--.html• textbook • https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ZssIigFZAfy_MT0UntGsPDJJ7O9feZa6m

pcGZQCDD40/edit?hl=en# ( to see the rest of our citations)