Blog post #10

the anther are the male reproductive that rubs pollen onto the stigma.




the ovary is the reproductive organ of a flower.



petal protects the center of a flower.



the stigma receives the pollen during fertilization.

Blog Post Assignment #10

 Brassica oleracea flower

Close up picture of stamen

Close up picture of the stigma 

Another Picture of the Stigma

The ovaries of the flower

In the process of flower reproduction, first, the male part of the flower (stamen) produces pollen, containing the plant's sperm cells. Next, the female part of the plant, the carpel, receives the pollen. Then, nature helps spread the pollen with bees and the wind, and has the pollen travel to different plants. From there, once the pollen gets to other stigmas of other plants, that pollen fertilizes the ovaries in the next plant. 

Blog Post 10

                                  The Male Reproductive organ, or the stamen          The ovaries, where unfertilized
                                this part of the plant creates the pollen, which                          seeds are stored
                                 contains the sperm cells of the plant

The male, anthers, an the female, carpel,                                 The female organ, or the carpel, during reproduction,
this makes a perfect flower.                                                        the pollen, containing the sperm, sticks to the stigma
                                                                                                            on the end of the the carpel, fertilizing the seeds

The way that flowers reproduce is actually quite simple.  The male part of the plant, or the stamen (top left) creates Pollen which contains the plant's sperm cells.  Then, the pollen has to find its way on to the female part, or the carpel, of the same or different plant.  Insects,such as bees, wind, and animals can all do this.  Once the pollen ends up on the stigma of a plat, it fertilizes the ovules inside the ovaries.

This is the entire flower together.

Blog Post Assignment #10

This is a picture of the whole flower.

This is a picture of the a stigma with anthers surrounding it. This is known as a perfect flower because both female and male reproductive organs appear in one flower. Many other flowers have the male and female organs in separate flowers.

This is a picture of the female anatomy of the flower called carpel. The carpel has stalk that is sticky and captures the pollen.

This picture is magnification 40x of the male anatomy of flower called stamen. There are two parts ti the stamen, the antler and filament. The stalk is called the filament and at the end of it is the anther. This is where the male sperm cells are, the male organ produces and releases pollen.

This is a picture of the ovaries, inside contains the ovules. These are the eggs with the female genetic information. When they have pollen, they can fertilize and become seeds.

The process of fertilization in plants depend on the other parts of the flower. without one part the cant fertilize. The the flower contains both male and female organs, this way the flower can pollinate without bees or other pollinators. The female reproductive organs are the ovary, stigma, and pistol. the male reproductive organs are the stamen and pollen. The stamen creates pollen and it has to move to the carpel to be able to fertilize. The stigma is sticky so it can capture the pollen, then the pollen moves to the ovary. There they fertilize and become seeds.

This picture is a 40x magnification of pollen from the flower, they look like jelly seeds. Without this the flower would not be able to fertilize, the pollen contains genetic information for fertilization.

Blog Post Assignment #10

This was our brassica oleracea flower. In this flower contains male and female gametophytes that will allow it to reproduce without having to be dependent on getting the pollen from another plant.

After peeling the petals off of the flower it revealed a stalk, and the tip of the stalk is very fluffy looking and when you touch them yellow dust comes off. These tips are the anthers. They produce male haploid gametophytes and results a yellow-ish dust called pollen.

(All pictures that were taken from the microscope lens are at 40x)

At the center of the flower is a long greenish rod that is higher than most of the stalky filaments that surround it. This green rod is called the stigma, a female reproductive part of the flower which produces female gametophytes.

When you cut open the stigma of the flower you will find the ovaries of the plant. The ovaries contain eggs to create an offspring.

The brassica oleracea plant is very special because it has both the male and female reproductive organs. By having both of the genders in one flower it is able to pollinate itself, and it does not have to rely on other pollinators in nature. Pollen is produced through the anthers and it is collected on the tip of the stigma. The stigma’s tip is sticky so the pollen can be easily collected. Then the pollen goes to the ovaries and fertilizes an egg.

Blog Post Assignment #9

1. Brassica is of one species but many of them can be very different. The leaves of the plants seemed to exhibit the most variation, there were thin, thick, small, big, rough, and smooth. I measured the biggest leaf to be about 16.5 inches and the shortest leaf to be about 1 inch.
2. Even though the plants are all part of one species many of them are very different because of the passing of the genes through generations. Farmers use artificial selection also known as selective breeding too choose the best traits they can get for their plants. They can choose the color, taste, texture, and size. Because of descent of modification farmers can choose what kind of traits they would like their plants to have. Over time when there are more types of plants they can genetically modify them. For example if there was no Brassica Oleracea plant the broccoli wouldn't exist.
3. The color and length of the stems of the Brassica Oleracea seem to be the most consistent even though all of them are very different. Many of the stems were green and few were purple with slight green in them. The length of the cauliflower, brussels, and broccoli plants had similar stem lengths, they were about 12-16 inches. The collards and kohlrabi had short stems that were about 2-4 inches long. The may be the around the same length because the small plants need much space so they dont\'t grow tall for sunlight and water. The taller plants would get their sunlight and water from growing more and taking up less ground space.
4. In order for plant breeders to get characteristics they want for their plants they would cross breed many plants together until they are satisfied with their plant. This would probably be a long process and have many trials and errors but you will get the plant you want if you keep trying. 

Who wants to live a million years

It took me two games to win. I think it took that many tries because of how many possibilities could come out of the options you picked. I think a lot of species will go extinct because there are so many more species that most are just going to die out. The phenotypes I selected were striped, fury, and tall with long necks. This combination helped me win the most games because it was able to protect itself from most thing and gather  food from high places. I think the theoretical creatures would be greatly affected by genetic drift. The land changed a lot. The height, hair, and color I think are the recessive alleles.  

a)fur for cold conditions

b)long legs for hot conditions

c)stripes for new large predator on the scene

d)long neck for new tall food source

Blog Post #9

          The Brassica oleracea contains many different plants with different features. The characteristic that showed the most variation was leaves. When I look around the garden, I see big leaves, small leaves, skinny leaves, and fat leaves. The characteristic that showed the most range was height. I measured a short, stalky plant as 35 cm. After that, the tallest plant I could find was almost 100 cm. Those measurements just go to show that there is a large range of height in the Brassica oleracea species.
         There is so many different traits in the domestic forms of Brassica oleracea because of all the different genes that are passed down.  Farmers can use artificial selection to make sure they get the specific plant they want. They pick two plants with the two traits that they want, and then breed those plants, also known as selective breeding. Specific mutations like broccoli are able to come from the wild Brassica oleracea plant because of descent with modification, where genes from the parent plants are passed down to the new plant. This way, the natural variations of plants can be controlled.
         The trait that seems to stay consistent is the color of the stems. Almost of the plants are green, and rarely purple. I think this occurs because all plants have chlorophyll, which makes the plants green. The average color of the plants were green. To keep this trait consistent, plant breeders need to pick the plants that have green stems, and avoid breeding plants with purple stems. If the the breeder wants a different color, he would use a purple stemmed plant to breed.

Blog Post #9

Even though all of the Brassica are of the same species they can be very different.  For instance, the texture of the leaves are very different between the different types.  Some of the leaves are paper thin, but some can be up to 2 cm in thickness, while some are in between.  Also, smoothness or roughness is different for every plant.  Some are kind of stickyish, but others are smooth.

All of the Brassica may be so different because farmers may have wanted different traits in their plants.  Using artificial selection, they got the traits that they wanted from the Brassica.  The farmers only breed the plants with the traits that they wanted, or selective breeding.  All of the plants have nearly the same genes, but different genes have been unlocked in each plant.  Farmers could specially modify these plants due to descent with modification.  In descent with modification plant take traits from there parents but it can be just a little bit different.  Breeding together plants with the mutations that you want can help farmers.  Also, natural variation can make plants different too.

The leave length of the plants are very similar.  For instance, the very largest leaf is about 30 cm while the smallest is about 23 cm.  The average leaf length however is about 25 cm.  The leaves may all be large so they can all absorb lots of sunlight.

In order to make a larger or smaller life all farmers would have to do is breed together plants with very large or very small leaves.  Eventually, the plants could become very different.  So that the farmers could get what they want.

Who Wants to Live A Million Years: Analysis of a Natural Selection Simulation

1. It took me four generations to finally win the game, it didn't take me long because i would pay attention to what the person was saying and what they needed so i looked for variations of things that the species would need to survive. I had to look for characteristics they needed to survive in certain seasons. This suggests that most species should have long legs and necks to help them get food from high places like trees and they should have fur to keep them warm in the winter.
2. The phenotypes I choose were the species with long legs and necks and others with fur and long legs, and short necks, they needed to survive when the seasons change and when there were drastic changes in the environment.
3. I think this population of theoretical creatures would be greatly affected by a genetic drift because when playing the game a lot of species had died when something happened out of nowhere.
4. Dominant genes were the long legs, long necks, and furs. They seemed dominant because I saw it a lot in the game.  
5. Species that were fat and furry could survive in cold conditions. Animals that didn't have fur could survive in hot conditions. Animals with long necks could reach tall trees for food and animals with short necks could stay warm in the cold conditions.
6. To improve the simulation to be more realistic I would have many other species competing against each other

GATTACA THEME ESSAY

Eddie Negrete

Period 5

GATTACA Essay

The theme of the film GATTACA, the theme that stands out to me most is the theme of Human Spirit. Time and time again the movie shows how this theme is important.

Jerome is genetically engineering to be perfect, but is certainly not. He is built with all the traits to be an astronaut, except for the part where he actually wants to be an astronaut. Jerome has no desire to be what he was designed to be, so all of his skills go to waste. A person needs to have the spirit and the dreams to fulfill their calling.

Vincent, on the other hand, actually grows up to be an astronaut. Vincent had dreams and goals and had his mind set to meet those dreams and goals. He wasn't going to let anything in his path stop him. He had to overcome obstacles and people tell him that he can’t become an astronaut, but he looked past it and kept on going. Vincent found a way to actually meet his goals. All he had to have was the spirit to push him.

Jerome and Vincent are two different people with two different dreams and goals. Vincent has high hopes that seem impossible to everyone else, but he achieves greatness. Vincent just wants to die and drink all the time, but helps Vincent reach his goals.

Jerome was engineered with practically everything he needed in order to be successful, but was missing the desire to do so. Vincent is an example of a person with great human spirit because with all his circumstances, he still achieved what he wanted to. This film is a great representation of how important of a trait Human Spirit is.

Gattaca Essay

In the movie Gattaca, people can choose what genes they want for their children, they can tell what someone is like before you even meet them just by having their DNA and looking up their profile. Vincent Freeman was an “in-valid” meaning useless. People who didn’t have perfectly, chosen genes were known as “in-valids.” People with perfect genes were known as “valids” they had more opportunities than the “in-valids,” just because you had perfect genes you would automatically get the job you apply for. It’s unfair that if you didn’t have specifically picked genes that you would most likely not get any jobs besides low paying ones. Vincent uses Jerome’s DNA to get a job to be able to go into space because he didn’t have the perfect genes. But in the end Vincent proves that it doesn’t matter who you are, if you put your heart and mind to something it can be accomplished no matter how impossible it seems.

Perfection vs. happiness. Would you rather be perfect and have a life full of no fun and everything is just always perfect. Or would you want to live a life full of happiness without perfection because not everything will always be perfect. Every parent would want their children to be successful and make them proud. Yes you would want your child to have all of the things they need to do what they want. But if they were automatically good at things why would they want to do it, there would be no purpose for doing it, they would find it boring if there’s no challenge that they need to get through. Even if you are good at things you still struggle with some things and that keeps them trying. Everyone is meant to make mistakes you learn from them and make yourself better. Things would get tiring and there would be no fun, if everyone was equally good at everything and had the same skill then what is the challenge.

Many people wish they didn’t have all their flaws, they wish they could be perfect. But if everyone was perfect then things would be boring. Everyone would probably look the same and there wouldn’t be anything unique about anyone. Everybody looks different and has something special about them. Imagine if every parent choose the same genes they wanted for their children. Everyone would be exactly the same it would be like looking at yourself. The world is meant to be different not everything should be the same people will make mistakes over and over again it’s part of life. Making mistakes makes you a better person you learn things from it and work on them.

People have goals and dreams to accomplish such as sports or a certain career they want. If those things came easily what would be the part of trying if you can just get it without putting effort into it. You would have no motivation to do better because that’s the best you can do. Everyone is good at things but they still struggle with it, the struggles help them accomplish their goals. Like for me, I love cheerleading and if i was good at everything in it i would find it boring, doing things and getting it without really trying is no fun. The harder it is to hit the sweeter it feels when you actually accomplish it. When you accomplish something you’ve been wanting it feels nice, you feel proud of yourself and accomplished. If you could easily accomplish it you wouldn’t put much effort into it.

Next time you wish you were perfect, don’t because you are unique there’s no one exactly like you. You are different and it should be like that why would you want to be someone else. I choose happiness over perfection anyday because I would rather be happy with everything I have and love rather than being perfect. My life would get tiring if it was always so perfect there would be no adventure and risks to take.

Who Wants to Live a Million Years Questions

1) The first time I played “Who Wants to Live a Million Years” my species survived the first time I played. It took this long because my species was the correct amount of diversity. This means that if things were perfect in a species that they could survive with little problems.

2) I chose long legs because they needed them to evade predators and they need height to reach tall food. I also chose fur because they are able to survive both fur in the hot time and in the cold time. These worked for me because I won the game the first time and with this combination I won several more games with the combination. I think this is so because this combination of phenotypes could be true to some species as well.

3) Yes I think the creatures in this game could be greatly impacted by genetic drift. Evidence of this in the gameplay is when an emergency is used and a creature is put in the herd with desired phenotype(s). For example when the fruit is getting higher and the animals are too short to reach it a creature with long legs or a long neck can be added into the gene pool as a dominant gene and the future offsprings will have this trait.

4) Long legs and fur were dominant and short legs and no fur were recessive. This is true because at the start of the game if you choose a creature with any of the recessive genes and one with the dominant gene there will be a rise in dominant genes from the very start of the game and the recessive genes will slowly disappear.

5) Cold conditions require fur, hot conditions require no fur, to evade predators long legs are required, and when fruit grows taller the animals need to adapt by either getting long legs or a long neck.

6) I would improve this simulation by getting rid of the emergency button, while genetic drift is a thing the alleles that aren’t common are chosen randomly and the player should not be able to choose what is random. Speaking of genetic drift we do not see it too much over the course of the gameplay; some of these animals develop quiffs but that is not a dramatic allele change which I think the game needs. And lastly the game should show what the animals are dying from (old age, whichever disaster or obstacle is put in place, etc).   

Gattaca Essay

Question: What happens to the unused/ unsaved embryos in in-vitro fertilization? Is that right? What is the difference between that and abortion?

Firstly in-vitro fertilization is where eggs are fertilized with a sperm in a lab this happens when fertilization is unsuccessful in women so assistance is required. Once the zygote turns into an embryo then the couple who the embryo belongs to gets to decide whether to have it implanted, get rid of it, or put it on hold. When the embryo is implanted in the mother it goes on like any embryo would and she gives birth to it a couple months later, but the real question is how do you put life on hold? Couples who are not sure whether to keep the future child or not have an option and that is whether or not to have the lab freeze the embryo. The embryos can be frozen for years at a time and if this is the case then the embryos are costly to save. If the couple does not want to keep the embryo then they have the choice to donate it or have it be terminated.

In GATTACCA during in-vitro fertilization the eggs and sperm are combined to make the best offsprings. From there the couples choose the embryos they want, and the rest of them are terminated. I’m not sure if unused embryos in GATTACA can be donated or preserved so I’m assuming the unused embryos are just gotten rid of.

I believe there is nothing wrong with this. It is completely the parents choice in what to do with the embryo. When the embryo isn’t used it can be saved, but some people don’t have the money to save it so it has to be discarded from the laboratory it has been frozen in. When laboratories get rid of the developing child officials have to either kill it or ask for permission to donate it to another family that has fertility issues and needs assistance. Donating can cause some families emotional problems because they are not comfortable with the idea that they have another child much less that child going to someone else. So in-vitro fertilization is morally right because it gives couples another shot at having children, and the means of taking care of the future offspring are morally right as well because they have valid reasons to back them up.

Disposing of the embryo in in-vitro fertilization is nothing like an abortion. An embryo in abortion is attached to a female and is inside them. If this female can’t take care of her child in the future or currently she must make the painful decision with or without a partner to get it aborted. In in-vitro fertilization the embryos grow outside the womb and with abortions they are inside the expectant mother. If you had a living creature that was your child attached to you for nine months you would get attached to it and it would have an emotional significance in your life. Those feelings are much like those you would develop for a loving house pet except stronger and more fierce. So when one gets an abortion it’s much more stressful and emotional. When the embryo is being developed in a lab the bonding between mother and child does not get to develop. Hence the in-vitro termination is not the same as an abortion.

For me I could not go through with an abortion or getting rid of frozen embryos and I’m sure most people feel the same way. But when financial issues occur and someone is not able to raise a child or keep their embryos frozen they have to part from them. Hospital bills are quite costly and paying monthly or up to seventy five thousand dollars for the embryo can sometimes be unmanageable. But when you can’t pay there’s not much that can be done. I’m all for pro-choice and it should be completely up to the couple whether or not to keep it or have something else arranged.

Evolution Questions

1. It took me 5 tries to achieve success.  It took this long because I had to learn how the game operates.  It means that it is rare for species to live this long.

2. Long neck, striped, and hairy is a combination of phenotypes that led me to several wins.  This happened because they were diverse and well accustomed to many different problems.

3. Yes I think it would be affected because lots of random things happened that destroyed my species.

4. I believe that furry, long neck, and long legs were all dominant.  Dark brown also seemed dominant. I could tell because they came up a lot.  Also fat and naked animals seemed recessive.

5. Animals that were fat, furry, with short legs and neck thrived in the cold.  Animals that were hairless thrived in the heat.  Animals with stripes and long legs thrived with a predator.  Animals with long necks thrived with tall food.

6. If I had to improve it, I would make more realistic situations like competition.  Also, I think that the animals would change a lot more over millions of years.

Gattaca Essay

I think that the theme of Human Spirit is a good theme that brings together everything that happens in GATTACA.  There is a lot of evidence in the film that support the idea that Human Spirit is important.

Vincent is definitely not perfect but because of his will to achieve his goals, he finally gets there.  He was supposed to be frail with many issues, but instead, because of his want to get into space, he works hard and achieves greatness.  If he did not have such a strong will, he may have keeled over and died when he was 30.2.  But instead, he makes it into space.

Jerome, however, was supposed to live practically forever.  He was genetically crafted to be totally perfect at everything.  But, because he doesn’t have a strong will, he never amounts to anything, until he finally has something to live for.  Towards the end of the movie, he ends up staying alive for Vincent.  But, when Vincent leaves, his spirit is crushed and he commits suicide.  All in all, Jerome is sacred.

Vincent and Jerome each have different hopes for what they want to be when they are older.  Vincent has huge hopes while Jerome wants nothing other than Helping Vincent.  Maybe if their personalities were switched then Jerome would have made it to Saturn’s moon and Vincent would have died when he was 30.

Human Spirit is very important in this world and in the world of Gattaca.  The important thing is to always hope and to keep your dreams in mind.

A Matter of Selection

The brassica oleracea plants exhibit change through many different phenotypes such as color, length, width, height, and thickness. One characteristic of the Brassica oleracea that showed most variation was color. All the plants expressed some shade of green but some also had what looked like purple veins coursing through the stem and leaves. According to a color chart I found via google images the shades of green that the plants have are shamrock, sage, fern, and olive. These shades of green are very mild and some shades like sage have undertones of grey and brown in them.

The colors are very noticeable but there are things that are not as obvious when looking at the plant. When we observe the plant we usually are standing and looking down at it. From this angle we can see the shape, size, and color of the leaves and depending on where we are looking from we can see bits of the stem. These are factors that are the most noticeable but what’s under the leaves? While looking at the stem of some of the brassica oleracea I noticed something intriguing that is probably overlooked by most people. Coming down from the stem on one of the plants I noticed a base or a bulb where the stem met the ground. This base was about two to three inches in diameter while other plants where the stem met the ground were smaller than that.

These brassica oleracea are all different because there of geographic isolation. They all came from a common ancestor but they were separated so they adapted to different environments. Natural selection comes into play and alleles change to see the perfect combination of genes for these plants. For example some of the plants are huge and perhaps they’ve developed that size so that they can get more energy from the sun and eliminate competition with other plants by creating less space for them to live in and taking nutrients and resources. Now humans have been caring for the genetics of the plants so they can make money selling them. If the plant turns out weak and scrawny customers will not want to buy it so people use artificial selection to only breed a select few of the plants that are superb so their offspring will most likely be genetically superior and people will want to buy more of it.

No matter where the plants grow there will always be traits that the different types of brassica oleracea share. One of these traits that are very common are the leaves. The leaves of the different types of plants are all similar to each other in size and shape. The leaves grow an average of eight to ten inches long depending on the plant and they all have the same shape. The shape of the leaves are long, not that wide, and the edges of the leaves are curvy. I think the reason why they are so long is so that they could obtain more sunlight, and the edges are curvy so they are aerodynamic so if the wind is strong the leaves won’t be damaged.

To change the shape and size of the leaves the breeder would obviously have to breed the plant with a bigger or smaller plant depending on what is being requested. If someone wants a plant to have smaller leaves then they would take a plant from that type with the smallest leaves and breed it with another plant that has small leaves until the small leaf gene is a common allele. If desired the plants leaves could be bigger too by taking a plant with bigger than the average size leaves and take another plant similar to that until the allele for that trait becomes frequent.