Ems Genetics

By

Pam Cohea

On the planet Hersh lived two different organisms called the Mords and the Mims. The Mords lived in the Northern Hemisphere and the Mims lived in the Southern Hemisphere.

One beautiful fall day a Mord was walking along and came across a Mim on the path.

It was love at first sight.

All the Mords of the Northern Hemisphere were shocked and said

that a Mord could never marry a Mim. All of the Mims of the Southern

Hemisphere were equally outraged and yelled that no Mim would ever marry a Mord. But as love will often find a way, the Mord and Mim were

secretly married. They called themselves the Ems.

Both the Mords and the Mims were angry and banished the Ems to a deserted island – where the happy couple found plenty of food, water, oxygen and space!

• The nice couple wondered what characteristics their children might have. They decided to use the genetic lessons they learned in school to discover the possible characteristics of their children.

They remembered that each offspring, or baby, received genes from the dad and from the mom. These genes made up strands of chromosomes located in each nucleus of every cell. This information determines how the offspring will look and sometimes even act. The stronger gene is called the dominant gene and the weaker gene is called the recessive gene. Each parent gives the offspring 2 genes for each trait.

What color will our children be? Brown is a dominant trait in Mords. Blue is a

recessive trait in Mims.

Brown & Brown

BB

blue & blue

bb

x Brown (B) Brown (B)

blue (b)

blue (b)

What size will our children be? Tall is a dominant trait in Mords. Short is a

recessive trait in Mims.

Tall & Tall

TT

short & short

ss

x Tall (T) Tall (T)

short (s)

short (s)

Many other Mords and Mims came to the island.

What color were the grandchildren of the Mords and Mims? The parents of these children each had a dominant and recessive gene for the color trait.

Brown & blue

Bb

blue & Brown

bB

x Brown (B) blue (b)

blue (b)

Brown (B)

What size were the grandchildren of the Mords and Mims? The parents of these children each had a dominant and recessive gene for the size trait.

Tall & short

Ts

short & Tall

sT

x Tall (T) short (s)

short (s)

Tall (T)

As more children were born, the Ems community grew and grew. The Ems found out that variety is great. It is okay to be born different colors and sizes. The Ems lived happily ever after (and the temperature never got hot enough to melt them

away)!

Works Sited

• http://us.mms.com/us/