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 (mm)

Narcissa Malfoy (mm)

Draco Malfoy( )

The Malfoys are a ‘pure blood’ family

All their ancestors are wizards so they must have the alleles mm

mm

Lily Potter (mm)

James Potter (mm)

Harry Potter (WW)

Both Harry’s parents had magical ability so they must both have been mm

They passed these alleles on to Harry

The Potters

mm

The Weasleys are pure blood wizards so they all have the alleles mm

Hermione is a powerful witch so she must be mm

Both her parents are muggles so they must be Mm so they can give her a m allele each

Mm Mm

mm

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 (mm)

Hermione (mm)

Children

( )mm

Ron

m m

Hermione

m

m

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

mm mm

mm mm

What wizarding alleles would Ginny and Dudley’s children have?

If Dudley is Mm

Ginny mm

Dudley Mm

Children

WW or mMmM mm

Dudley

m M

Ginny

m

m

Half of their children would be likely to get the m allele from both parents so they would be wizards

The other half would be likely to get an M allele from Dudley and would be muggles

m m

m m

m M

m M

What wizarding alleles would Ginny and Dudley’s children have?

If Dudley is MM

Ginny mm

Dudley MM

Children

WMm M

Dudley

M M

Ginnym WM WM

m WM WM

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

m M m M

m M m M

What wizarding alleles would you

expect Hermione’s

brothers and sisters to have?

Mr Granger

m M

Mrs Granger

m WW WM

M WM MM

The Granger’s children have a one in four chance of getting m alleles from both parents and having magical ability

They also have a one in four chance of getting M alleles from both parents and being a muggle

They could also get only one m from their mother or father and still be a muggle

m M

m M

m m

M M

Question 1

• Harry has dark brown hair like his father, but his mom had red hair. Using the genotypes of B and b, what possible genotypes does each of the Potters have?

• The phenotypes of the Potters are:

– James Potter-

– Lily Potter-

– 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 bbDad 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: BbGinny 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