Genetics... Different Alleles for Cat Eye Color.

I picked kind of a confusing topic, so this is probably going to require a LOT of explaining... but it's pretty cool, so bear with me. :)

Cats display many different phenotypes, (the observed state of a trait) through their physical features, but certain features can be masked by dominant ones. (ex. within felines, shorthair is dominant over long hair. If a homozygous dominant short and homozygous recessive longhair cat mated, all the offspring would have short hair, but carry the long hair allele. ) The dominant genes are portrayed and the recessive ones are hidden.

Quick review: Homozygous dominant: II
                       Heterozygous: Ii   
                       Homozygous recessive: ii

The problem with isolating an allele is that they're all so closely effected by melanin... So the colour of the hair and the hair patterns relate to eachother, and the type of cat.

This here is Chloe! She's the mother of the cat below, and she's an average housecat, Felis domesticus. (Actually, she lived in the barn...) She displays a normal tuxedo pattern, which corresponds to her eye-colour, which is a yellow-ish green... almost hazel. The entire spectrum for usual cat eye colour runs from green to hazel to brown.

Now this is one of chloe's kittens. She had 4, and this was the only one that still possessed blue-colored eyes after six months. (They're all born with blue eyes.) This suggests that whoever the father figure cat was heterozygous for the blue eye allele. (Ii) Using the square, we can concur that Chloe and the father were carrying the recessive allele for blue eyes, and the rest of the kittens inherited the hazel-eye trait. This means Chloe's heterozygous... because blue eyes in cats are ALWAYS recessive. The kitten also displays the same hair pattern.

This is Annie, my indoor cat... she sleeps for 18 hours a day. She and the next cat take the most explaining. She's a ragdoll cat, but she displays codominance within her face... most ragdolls contain alleles for albinism.
Genes that affect more than one trait are called pleiotropic. Most coat genes have a pleiotropic effect on the eye colour as mentioned before. There are two alleles manipulating eyecolour on cats:
-the pointed allele for hair: c³ 
-And the sepia colouring: c^b
Both alleles are recessive to the colour allele, C but are codominant with eachother. The homozygous genotype c3c3 reduces most pigmentation (natural colour) across the animal, reducing pigment production in the eyes, resulting in bright blue, vivid eyes. Annie's eyes however, are NOT as bright a blue as they should be but she's for sure codominant.... which suggests somethings up. The next photo shows the correct eye colour.

This is Felix, my cousins ragdoll cat... he bites. This one however, is a pedigree cat, and I think it came with some kind of pedigree chart... but anyway, I'll explain: The electric blue within his eyes is what should occur within these type of cats, rather than Annie's sea-ish blue. The reduced density of the fur colour is also shown correct here: what should happen is that either pure white with 1 other colour, or beige and dark brown colouring appears, rather than black and white and all inbetween. Annie above shows that she has grey, cream and white in her face, but the rest of her body is entirely white, other than her paws. She displays a bit of a calico pattern which is odd... but also suggests again codominance with different alleles, whereas Felix is definitely a purebred. You can tell mostly with the eyes.

Because I needed a 5th picture, this is Nikki... she doesn't display anything unusual, a calico pattern with corresponding inherited brown eyes, which is the most dominant allele. She's one of my other cousins cats... we have a lot of cats in our family.

So that's that... ahah, it's a lot of typing, I'll be sure to write a bit less next time.

Scavenger Hunt # 1 - Ansley Dieckmann

This is a chipmunk which represents a heterotroph.  A heterortroph is an organism that is unable to obtain its carbon from carbon dioxide. Heterotrophs must obtain carbon by feeding on organic material found in other organisms. 

This leaf contains phloem. Phloem is the tissue that transports nutrients in vascular plants. The phloem plays a huge role in photosynthesis because it moves the glucose and starches that are necessary for photosynthesis. 

This is an example of commensalism. Commensalism is the relationship between two organisms in which one benefits but the other is not harmed. This lichen grows on trees because it can get sunlight but it does not take any of the nutrients from the tree. The tree acts as a medium for the lichen.

On these flowers there is pollen. Pollen is the fertilizing element of flowers. The pollen is found at the end of the plant in the stamen. Pollen is necessary for the reproduction of the plant. 

In all plants there are xylem cells which form the xylem tissue. Xylem transports mostly water, but also some nutrients, throughout the plant. This tissue is vital to the plants survival because the water is needed for photosynthesis.

David Bready Scavenger Hunt #1 June 22

 An egg is an example of a unicellular organism. Contained within an egg is everything that a cell needs and is surrounded by a fluid which serves as nutrients for the cell. For the cell to divide and incubate it needs to be surrounded by warmth constantly, however when you crack an egg the cell is dead because the egg is taken before the cell can divide.

 I am using this orange as an example of an enzyme because contained within its peel is an enzyme classified as a bilirubin-oxidizing enzyme. It has a pH level of 7.5. Compared to the majority of other enzymes, this specific one is remarkably stable and continues to work even after being heated to 100 degrees Celsius and even after prolonged digestion with proteinase K.

 This animal here is my dog Izzy. I am using her as an example of a bilaterally symmetrical animal. That means that if you were to cut the animal in half down ONE line then there would be two halves mirroring each other.

 This beetle is an example of an exoskeleton. It does not have any bones and has a hard shell surrounding its entire body. The hard shell is what we specifically call the exoskeleton. It provides support and protection for the beetle contained within.

These little things are my examples of pollen. When pollen season comes around these things right here are the culprit behind everything being coated in yellow pollen. On a pine tree there are two types of pine cones. the male pine cone (which is what i am holding) and the female pine cone (the big spiny brown things). The male pine cone releases the pollen into the air where it reaches the female pine cone which then becomes fertilized and begins releasing the seeds of the tree. When it is finished the pine cones fall and the tree begins growing new pine cones. Believe it or not but there are a few types of trees that have separate genders and cannot asexually reproduce.

Scavenger Hunt #1 Amanda W.

Photo 1: Homeostasis- Homeostasis is controlled by the temperature of the body. When a person's body temperature is lowered to 91 degrees Fahrenheit they suddenly develope hypothermia. This is an example of an uncontrolled homeostasis. I used a thermometer at 85 degrees Fahrenheit to symbolize the uncontrolled homeostasis.

 Photo 2: Pollinator- A bee is an example of a pollinator because they transfer pollen from an anther to the stigma of the flower.

 Photo 3: Autotroph- Bermuda Grass is an example of an autotroph. An autotroph developes energy by photosynthesis and also produces food for themselves.

 Photo 4: Heterotroph- My dog Molly is an example of a hetertroph becuase she can not produce food for herself. Heterotrophs are the predators.

Photo 5: ATP- Adenosine Triphosphate is used as a source of energy for many metabolic processes. It is found in the mitochondria of plants and animal cells. Muscle contraction which is what my leg is supposed to look like is one of the many metabolic processes. Side note:(As you can see I still have a dancer foot Mrs. Lory, some what, but not the calf muscles anymore!:) Sad day haha!)

Post for Friday the 29th (I will be in Nicaragua!!!)

Grouping: Organisms on different levels of the same food chain

Photo 6: This is Brumuda grass (located in my backyard, and the backyard of many others). It serves as the primary producer in this food chain. Grass produces its own food.

Photo 7: This is a camel cricket. It serves as the primary consumer in this food chain. Crickets are heterotrophs who eat plants.

Photo 8: This is a green tree frog. Their scientific name is Hyla Cinerea. They are secondary consumers in this food chain.

Photo 9: This is snake way back under the tree branch. Snakes serve as tertiary consumers in this food chain as snakes are a huge predator of frogs. This food chain proves to show that an animal doesnt have to be a huge lion to be a tertirary consumer.

(I had to stop my food chain here because I did not plan on spotting a hawk or coyote which both eat snakes any time soon..)

Photo 10: Flower Ovary-- A flower ovary is the part of the reproductive organ of the flower. It is located near where the sepals and the base of the petals meet. Right above the ovary is the stigma where the pollen is. This is my Begonia plant. It is looking very pretty and blooming lots of flowers!!
Pollen-- Pollen is the yellow powdery stuff in the middle of the flower buds on several plants and flowers. It contains microgametophytes which has the sperm cells from males. When it lands on a female cone, it germinates. Gametophytes-- are what produce male or female gametes by mitosis. It is the haploid cell. The male and female gametes coming together produces the diploid cell.
Pollinator-- There is a third party involved in flower and plant "mating." A pollinator has to come along and carry to pollen from one flower to another. This pollinator is some kind of insect, and it many cases it is a bee.

Carrie Riley...

Nicely done from one of our two seniors!  So Carrie has set the bar and given a nice example of how to post her photos. Remember your use of humans is limited... so use them wisely... haha.  Notice how she defined her use of the photo/vocab.  Can't wait to see your other pics, people.  I also assume you'll find some really nice biome/plant stuff in Nicaragua, Carrie.

Post For Friday the 22nd

Photo 1: K-Strategist-- A buffalo is a k-strategist because they have a smaller but stable population. They are also classified as this because they have a larger body and produce few offspring. I took this picture at Yellowstone National Park.
Heterotroph-- A buffalo, and all animals, fungi, and many bacteria are heterotrophs that cannot fix carbon, so they must use organic compounds as a carbon source and energy source. They break down complex organic compounds like carbs, fats, and proteins that were orginally produced by autotrophs into simpler compounds in order to recieve the energy they need to thrive. Autotrophs on the other hand can form organic substances to use as energy from inorganic substances like carbon dioxide. Autotrophs are plants, and algae, and any other producer.

Photo 2: R-Strategist-- This is a picture of a mouse; mice are classified as R-Strategists because they have smaller bodies, rapid maturation, and they produce a large amount of offspring at one time. This is a picture of a mouse for sale at petsmart.

Photo 3: Prokaryote-- This is a picture of a colony of bacteria taken at Yellowstone National Park. Bacteria is an example of a prokaryote because it lacks a cell nucleaus and is a one celled organism.
Unicellular Organism-- Prokaryotes are single celled organisms as I mentioned above. They consist of only one cell. Bacteria tends to live in colonies, like pictured above, but that is just a colony of many single celled prokaryotes. Each cell carries out the life processes needed to survive. Most protists and some kinds of fungi are also unicellular organisms like prokaryotes.

Photo 4: Eukaryote-- This is my cat Bentley. He is an example of a eukaryote because he is an organism that contains many complex structures with membranes around them. All species of large complex organisms are eukaryotes.

Photo 5: Cellular Respiration-- These are my cousins. Humans gain their energy through the process of cellular respiration as plants gain and make their own energy through photosynthesis. Cellular Respiration is the reverse of photosynthesis. There are three main steps of cellular respiration: gylcolysis, citric acid cycle, and electron transport.
ATP-- ATP is produced in all living things in the mitochondria. It carries and stores energy in the body, but is not energy itself. It consists of phosphate bonds. A third bond must be created in order for the energy process to start.That third bond breaks and energy is released that fuels the living organisms. ATP is produced by cellular respiration in humans. However, it is produced by photosynthesis in plants.