American Sickle Cell Anemia Association

The Sickle Cell Information Center

What pigment protects us from ulraviolet radiation?

Define polygenic inheritance.

What does locus mean (as in gene locus)?

When you see a trait displayed by a bell curve, that's a sure sign that the trait is controlled by multiple genes at multiple locations (polygenic inheritance). Some of these traits are height, weight, body-build and skin color. Other possible traits may include behavior and intelligence (as you can imagine these last two assigning genetic determination/influence to these last two has been very controversial).

Bell Curves - when you see a bell curve summarizing phenotypes you know you're dealing with polygenic inheritance!

Pleiotropy: Mulitple Phenotypic Effects

What is pleiotropy?

I know... I know... here you go memorizing more terms. If Mendel was here he would say... "This is so cool! Why wouldn't you want to learn it!"

What genetic disorder did Dr. Wolfe use to describe pleiotropy? (other than cystic fibrosis and Tay sachs)  Please investigate the links to the right so you're familiar with the diverse symptoms and current state of understanding this disorder and how it's  being treated.

Sickle Cell Anemia: The Case Against Dominant and Recessive

No assigned questions. Please listen to entire lecture. It should reinforce what you learned in the previous lecture.