BISC219/F13: Assignment 1 Lab1

First Assignment: Entry Assessment; Defining your Experimental Question and Summarizing your Experimental Design; Diagramming your Crosses; Submitting your data for instructor check

Part 1: If you haven't already done so, please make sure that you have completed your on-line Entry Assessment on Survey Monkey at the two links provided on the course Lab Sakai site or on the Lab wiki Home page. Please complete this entry assessment before the second lecture and before you have started reading your textbook or the background information found in the lab wiki. You will be asked to take the same assessment again at the end of the course. This survey closes at the end of the first week of classes. You will receive 2.5pts when you email to your lab instructor the phrase found when you submit the completed longer survey. Keep in mind that this knowledge survey will not be graded, nor will you be penalize in any way for incorrect answers. Rather, it is designed to help us assess how much you knew before you took this course and how well Wellesley's genetics course teaches core genetics concepts compared to other institutions. Comparing your pre and post course results will help us know how to improve BISC219 for future students. Thank you for your valuable input.

Part 2: Read all of the background information on C. elegans found in BISC219/F13:_Worm_Info and then read all of Series 1 (Lab1 and the Completion of Autosomal or Sex Linked Genes? part of Lab 2).

Part 3: Assess your crosses: If you have phenotypically wild type hermaphrodites and about 30% or more males, your crosses are likely to have worked and you have an F1 generation to assess for x-linkage. Look carefully at the phenotype of each strains F1 males. Remember that X-Linkage is determined from the F1 males only (not the parental males!!!)in each strain's cross progeny. If you found that all of the male cross progeny are mutants (either dumpy or uncoordinated in phenotype), you have partially determined the answer to our investigative question: How are the two mutations in mutants MB1, MB2, and MB3 inherited? You have also now ruled out x-linkage in any strains that have a wild type male F1 generation. If you have ruled out X-linkage in any of the three strains, on what type of chromosome are the mutations located?

After you have completed the F1 assessment on the 3rd day after Lab 1, please email your lab instructor and let her know if your crosses worked and what you have learned: Does MB1, MB2, or MB3 show one or both mutations as x-linked? If the answer is yes, be sure to specific whether the strain(s) with the sex-linked mutation is in a dpy or unc gene or both.

Part 4 described below is due by the beginning of Lab 2.
Part 4: Before the beginning of Lab 2, please diagram the crosses for Series 1. There is a template for the cross diagram that you can download here: Media:Series 1 - Cross Diagrams.pdf and use for this part of your assignment.

Grading Rubric

Assignment 1 – 12.5 points

	At or Above Standard	Below Standard	Possible Points	Points Earned
Entry Survey	Completed BISC219 Genetics Entry Survey before second lecture	Did not complete Genetics Entry Survey	2.5	__/2.5
Preliminary Data	Submitted preliminary cross results to instructor by email before the 4th Day after Lab 1	Did not email preliminary cross results to instructor on Day 3 after Lab 1	1	__/1
Diagram of Crosses	Cross outcomes through F2 of our work using templates provided-all diagrammed accurately using proper nomenclature and giving predicted ratios of progeny genotypically and phenotypically.	One or more possible cross outcomes missing; one or more are inaccurate, omitted information, or did not include accurate predicted ratios of progeny for genotype and phenotype. Did not use nomenclature requested.	9	__/9
Total			12.5	__/12.5