fandomhigh | Biology, Tuesday, Period 2

An arrangement of muffins and juice sat on a table near the door, and a rather wobbly drawing of two dragons -- one with wings but not horns, and one with horns but not wings -- decorated the whiteboard. Elliot waited for most students to be in their seats before beginning

"Hey, people. Today we're going to talk about genetics, which is the science of genes, heredity, and the variation of organisms. Heredity and variations form the basis of genetics. Humans applied knowledge of genetics in prehistory with the domestication and breeding of plants and animals. In modern research, genetics provides important tools for the investigation of the function of a particular gene -- like, the, analysis of genetic interactions. Within organisms, genetic information generally is carried in chromosomes, where it is represented in the chemical structure of particular DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) molecules.

Genes encode the information necessary for synthesizing the amino-acid sequences in proteins, which in turn play a large role in determining the final phenotype, or physical appearance, of the organism. In diploid organisms, a dominant allele on one chromosome will mask the expression of a recessive gene on the other.

Genetics determines much (but not all) of the appearance and behavior of organisms, though environmental factors are also important. That gets into nature vs. nurture, which is a little beyond today's class.

"Let me show you how this works." Elliot tapped on the board. "Now, the standard way to represent a dominant gene is with a capital letter. Everyone gets two genes for every trait -- one from mom and one from dad. If we assume wings and horns are both dominant and both parents have matching alleles, or genes, then the dragon mom here would be WWhh, while dad is wwHH.

But it's not always that neat. Mom could also be Wwhh, and dad could be wwHh, and the one dominant gene overrules the recessive gene -- so if the baby came out WwHh, it would have both wings and horns, even though neither of its parents have both. And similarly, if the kid was wwhh, it'd have neither. This is why sometimes you get siblings that look nothing alike."

She passed out the lab. "You'll be working in three groups, each with different dragon parents. Work together to set up a table to figure out how likely it is the dragon babies would have wings or horns. I'll be around if you need help. Oh, and quiz next week, so studying would not be the worst idea you could have."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Right. Soooo... It's really just odds. Vegas odds, but still." Parker cocked an eyebrow. "Although, the question comes up, how sure are we that the dad is the dad?"

No, she doesn't have issues about that. Why do you ask?

"As opposed to the dragon equivalent of the milkman?" Isabel chuckled.

"Pretty much. For all we know, it's a shape-changing sea monster, right? In which case, the kids end up with fins."

Both her father and Ben have blue eyes. So did her mom. So no clues there.

"Which could be useful if they live near the beach. Not so useful if they're living in a cave on a mountain top." Idly Isabel doodled in the margins of her worksheet. "I wonder how they figured out who was the best choice for me genetically? Did I ever tell you that Michael found out where his human DNA came from?"

(deleted comment)

"It was one of those weird alien things," Isabel explained, shaking her head. "I'm sort of glad I missed it. But his donor's granddaughter turned up in Roswell, saw Michael and freaked because he looks identical to her grandfather. Who, get this, claims he was abducted by aliens back in the 30s. It was a mess for a bit, because Laurie was in trouble. But they got it straightened out. And now Michael actually has a family in an odd way."

"Hunh. So did they clone him? Or are they cousins or uncle and niece in some way?" Parker wondered, finishing off the chart. "And abducted?" She gave Isabel a dubious look. "You know, the more you tell me about your people, the more I think they need a serious dope-smacking."

[np--back in 40!]

"He's an exact clone of Grandpa Dupree apparently. Just with a few alien extras. Go figure. As for how that relates him to Laurie? It's a lot easier and less squicky to say cousins," she said. "As for the dope-smacking? I'm first. Remember I was the one sent here with a betrothal."

"True enough. How would that even *work* if you're no longer the same species as before?" Parker shook her head. "They can't have been so dense that they thought your former memories would just trump everything else, were they? Or was everything so changed by the crash that it's impossible to tell?"

Considering what Isabel has learned about what happened before they died, namely how Vilandra betrayed them all, she doubted that the memories would have helped. "I don't know. Between the crash and Nasedo selling us out, I'm not sure what was supposed to happen." She motioned at the chart. "Ironically this lab brings to mind questions I have."

Parker's got some questions too. Off in the margin, she's making a completely different chart. "Yeah? About what?"

"Mind you these are all strictly hypothetical, me being obsessive control freak planner type questions. But I wonder if my alien extras are going to get passed along if I ever get a chance to have kids," she said quietly. "Of course there's the little matter of living that long. And then deciding if it's a risk I want to take."

"I... can see how you'd wonder that." Parker put her hand over her little chart, which might have read:

pp Pp / 25% Pretender; 75% carrier of gene

at the bottom. "You'd need someone who was there to answer those questions, I'd guess. And the risk--" Parker's face went grim, thinking of the rogue FBI agent who had hurt Max. "Is not inconsiderable."

"I suppose we'll get answers if, or when, we go back," she said. "And adoption's not such a bad thing. I should know." Isabel tilted her head towards Parker's paper. "Trying to figure out what color eyes the kids would have if there were ever mini Jarods and Parkers running around?"

Parker gave her a weak grin. "Three brown-eyed kids and one blue-eyed. Although the odds get re-set every time, of course. Unlike our dragons who all end up with horns and wings, if there's no milkman sea monster." She shook her head. "I've got too much to do for kids. And I don't want to have one when I'm forty. So... it's probably moot." Her smile warmed. "And yeah, adoption is never a bad idea."

That way, there's no risk of someone like Raines hurting them.

"Although I would like to see a mini-you with Greg's hair. That would be a trip."

"That's too bad. I bet you'd make a good mother. At times you make me think of a mama lioness. All protective and ferocious," Isabel said. She laughed as she tried to picture a little girl with Greg's hair. "I'm just hoping she'd have my sense of self preservation ~~and avoid poking the scary ethics teacher!~~."

Parker had some serious doubts in that area too, but that was so far off she couldn't even imagine it. "Your sense of self preservation and brains and Greg's hair and ability to talk his way out of things. Kid would be unstoppable." Her smile widened. "And maybe the ability to change her nail polish color. Just for fun."

"She'd take over the world," Isabel laughed. "And don't forget changing hair color. It's a necessary power."

"Or the ability to make it stand straight up without product." Parker snorted. "That'd do it. Queen of the World."

Parker blinked, distracted from making their chart of WWhh and WWHH. After a minute, she realized all the kids had identical DNA. "No, you didn't. How'd he figure that out? It's a huge world, I would have thought it would be impossible."

Biology, Tuesday, Period 2

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