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SB3: Heredity

5 dot points across 5 inquiry questions. Click any dot point for a focused answer with worked past exam questions where available.

How do inheritance patterns that are not simple dominant and recessive work?

Use mathematical models to predict and explain patterns of inheritance beyond simple dominance, including incomplete dominance, codominance, and multiple alleles (such as ABO blood type) (GSE SB3.b).
A Georgia Milestones Biology EOC answer on non-Mendelian inheritance: incomplete dominance (blended phenotype), codominance (both alleles shown), and multiple alleles with the ABO blood type system, including how to work out blood-type crosses.
12 min answer →

How does meiosis produce gametes and create the genetic variation seen in offspring?

Explain the role of meiosis in producing gametes and in generating genetic variation through crossing over and independent assortment (GSE SB3.a).
A Georgia Milestones Biology EOC answer on meiosis: how it halves the chromosome number to make gametes, the difference from mitosis, and how crossing over, independent assortment, and random fertilization create genetic variation.
12 min answer →

How do Mendel's laws and a Punnett square let us predict the genotype and phenotype ratios of a cross?

Use Mendel's laws of segregation and independent assortment, with Punnett squares, to predict the genotype and phenotype ratios and probabilities of monohybrid crosses (GSE SB3.b).
A Georgia Milestones Biology EOC answer on inheritance: alleles, genotype and phenotype, dominant and recessive traits, Mendel's laws, and using Punnett squares to predict the ratios and probabilities of monohybrid crosses.
13 min answer →

How do we trace a trait through a family, and why are some traits more common in males?

Analyze pedigrees to determine patterns of inheritance, and explain sex-linked inheritance, including why X-linked recessive traits appear more often in males (GSE SB3.b).
A Georgia Milestones Biology EOC answer on pedigree analysis and sex-linked inheritance: reading pedigree symbols, identifying dominant versus recessive and carriers, the X and Y chromosomes, and why X-linked recessive traits such as color blindness appear more often in males.
12 min answer →

What are the advantages and disadvantages of sexual versus asexual reproduction in different environments?

Compare the advantages and disadvantages of sexual and asexual reproduction, relating genetic variation to survival in stable versus changing environments (GSE SB3.c).
A Georgia Milestones Biology EOC answer comparing sexual and asexual reproduction: the genetic variation of sexual reproduction versus the speed and identical offspring of asexual reproduction, and which is favored in stable versus changing environments.
12 min answer →