Traits & Features
Trait or feature? Eye color
What is a feature?
True or false:
The type of protein you eat determines your traits.
False: Your body makes its OWN proteins, your traits are not determined by the proteins you eat.
How many gene copies do you have for each feature?
What is two copies?
The part of the cell that builds proteins is called...
What is a ribosome?
Trait or feature? Low silk flexibility
What is a trait?
True or false:
If a spider eats a lot of protein, it will start to have less stretchy silk.
False: The amount of protein that an organism eats usually does NOT change its traits
Where do cells get the instructions for building proteins?
What are genes?
Where do we get our genes from?
Genes are inherited from biological parents.
Each parent gives one gene copy, which is why we have two gene copies for each feature. Two parents, two gene copies!
What is one trait that Ms. Riley has?
Possible answers: Brown hair, pale skin, blue/green eyes, tall height, etc.
Proteins are made of smaller molecules called _____________.
What are amino acids?
Your cells use amino acids to build new proteins!
Why do spider siblings make different proteins for silk flexibility? For example, one spider makes protein 1, and another makes protein 2.
They have different gene versions
A spider makes two different kinds of protein for silk flexibility. Why does it make two different proteins for one feature?
The spider has heterozygous gene copies for the silk flexibility feature. Its genes have instructions for making two different kinds of protein.
Vocabulary: "Any difference in traits between individual organisms" is called ____________
What is variation?
A spider only has proteins for low silk flexibility. Then, you add proteins for high silk flexibility to its cells (so now it has both). What silk flexibility trait will it have?
What is medium silk flexibility?
When an organism has two gene copies that are the same, this is called ____________.
What is homozygous?
Genes are stored in a molecule called ________
What is DNA?
Organisms have different traits because they have different ___________ molecules in their cells.
Hint: NOT genes!
What is protein?
Different proteins create different traits!
The function of a protein molecule (the way it works, what it does in the body) depends on its ______________.
What is structure/shape?
Vocabulary: "a random change to a gene that sometimes results in a new trait" is called a ___________
What is a mutation?
People with this disease cannot stop bleeding when they have a cut because their body does not make an important clotting factor protein. What is the disease called?
What is hemophilia?