BIO 105 Science of Biology w/Lab

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Experiment 5Sickle Cell Anemia Inheritance Patterns Experiment Inventory

Materials Blue Beads

Red Beads

Labware 100 mL Beaker

EXPERIMENT 5: SICKLE CELL ANEMIA INHERITANCE PATTERNS- Sickle cell anemia is a genetic disease most common in those of African ancestry that results from the mutation of a single base pair. This mutation results in a change to the hemoglobin protein. In this experiment, “S” will represent the normal allele and “s” the sickle allele. They are codominant alleles. Therefore, SS is normal, Ss is not fatal but mildly symptomatic, and ss is debilitating, painful, and often fatal.

PROCEDURE

1. Place 25 red (representing the normal S allele) and 25 blue (representing the sickle s allele) beads into the 100 mL beaker

and mix well.

2. Without looking, remove two beads. Repeat ten times (without returning the beads to the beaker), each time recording

whether the beads are SS, Ss, or ss.

3. Assume that each individual with the ss genotype passed away, and remove ss instances from the population. The remain

ing beads survived and reproduced.

4. Count how many red and blue beads remained (separately) and place twice that number back in the beaker.

5. Repeat the process seven times, then answer the post-lab questions.

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