Punnett

Squares
Tonia Levanen and Natalie Cahhal
 Review of Genetics
What makes you, you?
● Study of heredity or genes
● Genes determine everything
about you!
○ Hair color, eye color,
height, and much much
more!
● Gregor Mendel discovered the
idea of genetics by studying
the offspring of pea plants.
What are Genes?
Genes: a segment of DNA that code for
a specific trait
● Portion of DNA
● Located on chromosomes
● Half of your genes come from
mom, while the other half
come from dad.
● All the different outcomes of
these genes are called Alleles.
What are Alleles?
Alleles: One member of a pair, or a
series of genes that occupy one place
on a chromosome.
Here’s an example: My dad has
brown eyes, but my mom has blue
eyes. Since I know 50% of my DNA
comes from mom, and 50% from
dad, I can either have brown or blue
eyes. I get a combination of options
from both my parents. These
different combination of options are
called alleles.
How do we Analyze Alleles?
Dominant and Recessive
Alleles are indicated in genetics by either an
uppercase or lowercase letter. For example,
Brown eyes may be indicated by an
uppercase B, while blue eyes are indicated
by a lowercase b. Click Here to see what
these words mean!
Uppercase indications show Dominance. But first, finish
Alleles that are dominant can either be reading the slide :)
Heterozygous or Homozygous.

Lowercase indication show a recessive

gene. To have a recessive gene be visible, it
has to be homozygous.
 Heterozygous vs Homozygous

The prefix “Hetero” means: Think you’ve

got the answer? Click Here

The prefix “Homo” means: Click Here to see

the answer.
Heterozygous vs. Homozygous
Continued

Putting together what we know. If Capital What is an example of a heterozygous

letters are dominant, and lowercase letters allele pair? Use the letter “b”
are recessive, what would be an example of
a homozygous dominant gene?
Homozygous recessive? Use the letter “b”
Know the answer? Click Here
Know the answer? Click Here
Genotype vs. Phenotype
 Genotype
Genotype is what the actual genetic
makeup of a trait is. Any allele pair--Bb, BB,
bb--is the genotype.
Phenotype
The phenotype is what the genotype looks
like, or is observed as. For example, if we
are testing eye color and the dominant trait
is brown eyes while the recessive trait is
blue, then the phenotype for BB and Bb is
brown eyes, and bb is blue.
What is a Punnett Square?
Punnett Squares
Punnett squares are used to find the
possibility of all the offspring between two
parents. If we know both of the parents
genotypes, we can use a punnett square to
find all the possibilities of the
genotypes/phenotypes of the offspring.
 How to make a Punnett Square
Firstly, put one of the parents genotype
across the top, while the other along the
side.

Then continue to fill in the squares by

matching vertically and horizontally.

CHALLENGE:

For the example to the right, what are

both of the parents? (Homozygous,
Both parents are Heterozygous!
heterozygous, dominant, or recessive?)
IMPORTANT NOTE: This is color coded just to
Click Anywhere to see the answer. show where each letter came from.
Try it!
Diagram a punnett square that crosses a
heterozygous parent and a homozygous
dominant parent. Use the letter “T”

If each square equals ¼, what total of

squares is homozygous dominant? What
total of squares is heterozygous?
Homozygous recessive?

Homozygous Dominant= ¼ + ¼ = 2/4 or ½

Heterozygous= ¼ + ¼ = 2/4 or ½
Homozygous Recessive= 0
How can we use the idea of a punnett
square to help us in math?

We can use a punnett square to help us

factor! Let’s factor (x+2) (x+3)

X² + 2x + 3x+ 6
Add like-terms
X² + 5x + 6