A Student-Focused Lab Module To Investigate Single-Nucleotide Polymorphisms of Common Heritable Traits

摘要

Introductory biology and genetics courses typically use monogenic biallelic Mendelian traits to teach the fundamental relationship between genotype and phenotype. Although this is an invaluable starting point for understanding the inheritance of traits, students often carry misconceptions about a single gene being the sole determinant for a given phenotype (1). With the wide availability of personalized genomics through direct-to-consumer services such as 23andMe, it is critical that biology students and the general public understand that this deterministic view is not accurate in most cases. Environmental factors, variable penetrance, and interplay among an array of genetic factors ultimately lead to a given phenotype in most human traits. Given these layers of complexity, it can be difficult for students to gain a deep understanding of the true relationship between phenotype and genotype for many human traits.