rksu747

Hi guys, I really need help with genetics. All of my classes this semester are hard because the material is tough or I have a jackass for a Professor. That being said, I really need advice on how to approach genetics problems. I have a lot of anxiety where this course is concerned and I want to get over it. I am just now learning that there is very telling language that I should pay attention to and proceed according. For instance, my TA explained in class yesterday that if we get a genetics problem where we are told that a parent has a "rare" disease (maybe she said autoimmune disease, does the difference matter?), we should always assume that the person marrying into that family is heterozygous normal because it is very unlikely that someone with the same disease would marry into that family. From this, I have learned that "rare" is a key word and that should prepare to cross said allele with a heterozygous one. Are there any other examples that anyone could provide or general advice? I really need to become genetics minded. I think it can actually be fun if I get there but I need some serious guidance.

Here's an example problem that I found online that I am not certain about how I should approach finding a solution:

In guinea pigs, the allele for short hair is dominant.

What genotype would a heterozygous short haired guinea pig have?

What genotype would a purebreeding short haired guinea pig have?

What genotype would a long haired guinea pig have?

I should point out that I just learned today that "purebreeding" means that that guinea pig has some trait that it would pass along to all of it's offspring if it were bred with another purebreeding member of it's species. That being said, I think the answer for #2 is 100%. They way I think of it is that the pig is simple crossed with another like it. Is this the case or should I be thinking about this differently?

I welcome all input and clues. I really need to get genetics to be less intimidating for me!

I responded 2 the qstn & got what i expected which was a really lame response that lacked any academic merit or empirical evidence to show that affirmative action has created advantages 4 blacks from, Guru. in spite of his compliment, my concern is that when arguing that "AA" kills the system of 'meritocracy,' he completely overlooked my quick question about 'white priviledge.' I asserted that 'white priviledge' is like white affirmative action but that was a wholly inaccurate comparrison. I saw he responded to me directly & i decided that I would use this question feature to give a thorough rebuttal and offer more info about 'WP.' Since I only get 1k, I have posted a couple links below to better expose the scope of white priviledge instd. Wsnt lokng 4 responses but I am interested in smart discussion especially from proponents 2 abolish affirmative action.

http://www.case.edu/president/aaction/UnpackingThe...

http://uts.cc.utexas.edu/~rjensen/freelance/whitep...