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Genetics in Harry Potters World

1) Harry's mother Lily likely had the genotype bb for red hair, while his father James could have been either BB or Bb for brown hair. 2) Given Lily's bb genotype, the only possible genotype for Harry is Bb, explaining his brown hair from his father but capability for red hair. 3) Harry (Bb) and Ginny (bb) would produce children with a 50% chance of red hair (bb genotype) and 50% chance of brown hair (Bb genotype).

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Martin Tisher
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123 views

Genetics in Harry Potters World

1) Harry's mother Lily likely had the genotype bb for red hair, while his father James could have been either BB or Bb for brown hair. 2) Given Lily's bb genotype, the only possible genotype for Harry is Bb, explaining his brown hair from his father but capability for red hair. 3) Harry (Bb) and Ginny (bb) would produce children with a 50% chance of red hair (bb genotype) and 50% chance of brown hair (Bb genotype).

Uploaded by

Martin Tisher
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Genetics in Harry Potter’s World!

What are some Phenotypes found in


the Harry Potter characters
Draco-Malfoy’s comment: Sorcerer’s Stone
“All the Weasleys have red
hair, freckles, and more
children than they can
afford.”
Phenotypes
• “Harry had a thin face,
knobby knees, black
hair and bright green
eyes.”

• Sorcerer’s Stone
“A pale boy with
a pointed face
and white blond
hair, Draco
greatly
resembled his
father. His
Mother was
blonde too….
Applying Genetics to Harry Potter
Characters
• A genetic trait can be described in two ways:
– Phenotypes are observable traits resulting from
how one’s genes are expressed.
– Ex: hair color, eye color, sickle cell disease, etc.

– A Genotype consists of two letters that represent


a gene’s allele pair that results in a phenotype
How Are Wizards Made?

• Being a wizard or a muggle is all


decided by genetics

• All humans including wizards


receive one allele from each parent
How Are Wizards Made?

• The allele for wizarding ability is m

• Wizards have the alleles mm


How Are Wizards Made?
• The allele for muggleness is M

• Muggles have the alleles Mm or MM

• M is dominant to m so you can only be a


wizard if you have no M allele
The
Malfoys

Lucius Malfoy Narcissa Malfoy


(mm) (mm)
Draco Malfoy
(m m )
The Malfoys are a ‘pure blood’ family
All their ancestors are wizards so they must have the alleles mm
The Potters

Lily Potter James Potter


(mm) (mm)
Harry Potter
(WW
mm )
Both Harry’s parents had magical ability so they must both have
been mm
They passed these alleles on to Harry
The Weasleys are pure blood wizards so they all have the alleles mm
Hermione is a powerful witch so she must be mm

Mm Mm

mm

Both her parents are muggles so they must be Mm so


they can give her a m allele each
Tom Riddle is a ‘half blood’.
His mother was a witch (mm) and his father was a muggle
His father must have had the alleles Mm so he could give him the
other m allele

mm Mm

mm
Filch is a ‘squib’

Both his parents are mm so he should be too because he can’t get an


M allele from either parent but he can’t do any magic

This means he has a mutation so his wizarding powers don’t work


or the man he thinks is his father isn’t really and his mother had an
affair with a muggle!
What wizarding alleles would Ron and Hermione’s children have?

Ron Hermione
(mm) (mm)

Children
(m m )
Their children could
only get the m allele
from both parents so Ron
they would all be
wizards m m

m mm mm
Hermione

m mm mm
What wizarding alleles would Ginny and Dudley’s children have?
If Dudley is Mm

Ginny Children Dudley


mm Mm

mWW
M or mM
mm
Half of their children
would be likely to get
the m allele from Dudley
both parents so they
would be wizards
m M
The other half would
be likely to get an M
allele from Dudley
and would be m m m m M
muggles

Ginny m m m m M
What wizarding alleles would Ginny and Dudley’s children have?
If Dudley is MM

Ginny Children Dudley


mm MM

WM
m M
Their children would
get the m allele from
Ginny and the M Dudley
allele from Dudley so
they would all be M M
muggles

m mWM
M M
mWM
Ginny

m M
mWM M
mWM
What wizarding alleles would you
expect Hermione’s
brothers and sisters to have?
The Granger’s children have a one
in four chance of getting m alleles
from both parents and having
magical ability Mr Granger
They also have a one in four
chance of getting M alleles from m M
both parents and being a muggle
They could also
get only one m m
mWW M
mWM
m from their
mother or father Mrs
Granger
and still be a
muggle M M
mWM M
MMM
Question 1
• Harry has dark brown • The phenotypes of the
hair like his father, but Potters are:
his mom had red hair.
Using the genotypes of – James Potter-
B and b, what possible
genotypes does each of – Lily Potter-
the Potters have?
– Harry Potter-
Using the genotypes of BB, Bb, bb, what are possible genotypes
for Harry’s parents?

Mom could be (she has red hair)

Dad could be (he has dark brown hair)


Using the genotypes of BB, Bb, bb, what are possible genotypes
for Harry’s parents?

Mom could be (she has red hair)

Dad could be (he has dark brown hair)

Mom could be bb
Dad could be BB or Bb
Given the possible genotypes of each parent,
complete the two punnet squares below
Given the punnet squares for the parents,
the only possible genotype for Harry is
Given the punnet squares for the parents,
the only possible genotype for Harry is Bb
Question 2: Harry marries Ginny who has red hair.
What are the possible Genotypes of their children’s
hair?
First: what are the genotypes for
Harry and Ginny’s hair color?
Harry is:
Ginny is:
First: what are the genotypes for
Harry and Ginny’s hair color?
Harry is: Bb
Ginny is: bb
Given the genotypes of Bb
and bb, we can fill in the
Punnet Square
Given the genotypes of Bb
and bb, we can fill in the
Punnet Square

Their
children
have a 50%
chance of
having red
hair or
brown hair

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