1. Genetics Case Study: The Royal Family

2. The Romanov Family Romanov Empire included one-sixth of the globe.
Nicholas II became Czar of Russia in 1896
Resentment against the Czar and wealthy class begins at end of 19th century.

3. Alexei Born in 1904, Nicholas’s only son.
Had hemophilia, a bleeding disorder.
Had body guard with him at all times to prevent accidents.
Alexei had several internal bleeding instances.
These bleedings were stopped after the prayers of the healer Rasputin.

5. Rasputin Healer or Scoundrel????
Alexandra (Alexei’s mom) called Rasputin in to stop Alexei’s bleeding.
Alexandra took Rasputin in as a relative (which lowered public faith of the Romanov family). His influence on the Czar is arguable by historians.
Assassinated by Russian aristocrats.

6. Rasputin
Rasputin was drugged, poisoned, and shot before he died of drowning in the Neva river

7. End of the Empire
July, 1918: Russian Revolution (Romanov’s assassinated)
Alexei’s body missing from mass grave found in 1990’s.

8. So what does this have to do with Genetics?
Learn how to read a PEDIGREE.
Learn the inheritance pattern of HEMOPHILIA.

9. Sex-Linkage
Traits controlled by genes located on the sex chromosomes are called sex-linked traits.
The gene for a protein that helps blood clot is on the X chromosome.
If this gene is mutated (deletion, point mutation, etc), it may cause HEMOPHILIA.
Heterozygotes are carriers & may pass trait on to children, but themselves appear normal.
Other sex-linked traits are red-green colorblindness, Duchenne muscular dystrophy, and Fragile X syndrome.

10. Royal Family Pedigree

11. Pedigrees Each row represents a generation
Genders represented by different shapes
Affected individuals indicated by shading
Carriers indicated by half shading

12. Reading a Pedigree
Sometimes, carriers are indicated this way.

13. Pedigree Problems: Tips
Recessive: trait usually skips a generation
Dominant: trait shows up often
Autosomal: trait seen in both genders
Sex-linked: trait seen usually in 1 gender

14. Sample Pedigrees

15. Dominant or recessive trait? Autosomal or sex-linked?
Pedigree Practice
Dominant or recessive trait? Autosomal or sex-linked?

16. Dominant or recessive trait? Autosomal or sex-linked?
Pedigree Practice
Dominant or recessive trait? Autosomal or sex-linked?

17. Dominant or recessive? Autosomal or Sex-linked?
Pedigree Practice
Dominant or recessive? Autosomal or Sex-linked?

18. Practice Problems

19. Create your own pedigree!
Draw your family tree like the pedigrees we’ve seen.
Decide on a trait, and shade the affected individuals. (see list of traits on next slide)
Show the trait through 3 generations in your family (grandparents, parents, and you and your siblings).

20. Dominant
Recessive
Widow’s peak hairline
Straight hairline
Tongue-rolling
Can’t roll tongue
Free earlobes
Attached earlobes
Can’t bend back 45°
Hitchhiker’s thumb
Freckles
No freckles
No chin cleft
Chin cleft
Bent little finger
Not bent
Oval face
Square face
Morton’s Toe(2nd toe)
Big Toe is tallest
Dark hair (brown/black)
Blonde Hair
Not red hair
Red Hair