From: Karen Kalumuck (karenk@exploratorium.edu)
Date: Fri Dec 06 2002 - 11:24:56 PST
Message-Id: <v01540b03ba16a798647c@[192.174.3.119]> Date: Fri, 6 Dec 2002 11:24:56 -0800 From: karenk@exploratorium.edu (Karen Kalumuck) Subject: Re: pinhole Y-linked traits?
Hi Ben!
The absolute best resource for finding out all about genetic linkages is
the Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man database
(http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/omim/). This is THE "bible" for human
geneticists, and I've used it extensively back in my days as a researcher,
and now as an educator.
Once you're at the home page, click on "Search the OMIM database", then
type "Y-linked" into the search. It will pull up 50 entries (out of 68
found). Some are fairly esoteric, but there's other ones that your
students could relate to, such as "hairy ears". Careful, though. Be sure
to read the associated text; in many cases it's not really known for sure
if it's a Y-linked gene, and many times is actually a polygenic trait.
This is also a great way to see that all those traits that we've been
telliing students are "dominant" or "recessive" are actually polygenic, and
in many cases, never were thought to be dominant or recessive based on the
available research. (How the misinformation got into the textbooks is a
mystery I'd like to unravel). For example, if you search for "eye color",
then click on #227240, "eye color 1", you'll find the following:
"Eye color is likely to be a polygenic trait. The early view that blue is a
simple recessive has been repeatedly shown to be wrong by observation of
brown-eyed offspring of 2 blue-eyed parents. My (the author)monozygotic
twin brother and I, brown-eyed, had blue-eyed parents and blue-eyed sibs."
Enjoy!
---Karen K
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