Mitosisssss

So like actually all we've done the last few classes is mitosis. Basically what it is is cell replication so that cells can divide and make more and more and more! Cells are usually in interphase, where they go through 3 stages: G1, S (DNA replication), and G2 (organelle doubling). Next it goes a little something like this!

Prophase: Chromatin condenses and the nuclear membrane disappears.
Prometaphase: Chromatin starts to move as the spindle gets its crap together (by that I mean it gets fully organized haha).
Metaphase: All the chromatin lines up in the middle.
Anaphase: The chromatin is split apart to the opposite sides of the cell.
Telophase: Two nuclear membranes are formed around the chromatin.
Cytokinesis: The two new cells are pinched apart and free to live their lives!

Real life mitosis that we saw in class!! 

Your Inner Fish Chapter 6

Embryology is the study of embryos, or eggs, before they become fully formed animals.  When eggs are fertilized, they begin to form 3 germ layers, shown above.  These layers form literally everything in the entire body, whether it be a fish body or a human body.  The endoderm develops the digestive system and lungs, the mesoderm skeletal and muscular features, as well as blood, and the ectoderm develops skin an the nervous system.    This development is controlled by the Operator works together with Hox genes to regulate the normal arrangement of organs and the creation of the correct amount, unlike flies with mutated Hox genes growing feet from their head and such.

 However, knowledge about the Operator was nor really acquired until the 90s, and it fell in and out of favor since its discovery, much like Justin Bieber.  Moved around Operators can result in organisms with two sets of organs, and switched germ layers could mean a whole host of developmental differences more the embryo.  Embryology provides insight into the arrangement of many animals that comes from our evolutionary past, and more similarities than differences between man and beast.

Pedigree

I would like to start with my favorite pedigree:

Basically pedigrees are just a family tree with genetic information on them so that traits or diseases can be tracked and predicted.  There's a whole bunch of symbols that mean a lot of things (most referring to incest) and are kind of confusing, but for the most part pedigrees are pretty basic.  Look at the one above, it denotes people with hemophilia, people who are carriers, and family relations.  Pretty simple huh? Then all you have to do is label generations and you're good to go! (Oh also you should probably find out if it is autosomal or sex-linked, that's pretty important too, but you can find that out by seeing how many males have it opposed to how many females have it. In this pedigree hemophilia is sex-linked). Well, that's all there is to it!

I have a test next class, so wish me luck! (I'll sorely need it)