Pedigree Activities

Pedigree and Karyotyping activities are NOT required in a general Biology course.  However, they are interesting.  My kids are finishing this Human Karyotyping Activity.  Next we’re starting pedigrees.  Two pedigrees which are especially interesting are Woody Guthrie’s and Queen Victoria’s.  Arlo Guthrie suffered from Huntington’s Disease.  Huntington’s Disease is autosomal dominant.  Here is a pedigree activity for Woody Guthrie.  (Here is the Guthrie pedigree.). Another pedigree is hemophilia and Queen Victoria.  Here is the hemophilia pedigree activity.  

I played the Woody Guthrie song, ‘This Land is Your Land’.  Tuesday, we’ll start working through the pedigree activities.  We did talk about Huntington’s Disease as autosomal dominant and did the Punnett Square.  Each child born from a parent with Huntington’s Disease has a 50:50 chance of inheriting the disease.  Keep in mind, the gene though dominant is rare, much like the gene for polydactyly.  Huntington’s Disease may not manifest until the patient is in his or her forties.  As a child, like Woody Guthrie’s son, Arlo Guthrie, would you want to know if you inherited the disease?  While the uncertainly would cast a shadow over your youth, the certainty may blight your youth.