A (lengthy) article on BP Gentics

[Dread]

Hi there!

Thanks so much for sharing, since this is a field that combines both my professional abilities and personal interests, I'll review it as if it were one of my student's if you don't mind. If you do... you probably shouldn't read any further! As I'm sure this is something you want read by wider circles, I'll comment on both the writing and the content:

This article seems to be a cross between a well-considered structure and off the top of your head writing. If you truly intend for this article to be a reference you will have to correct the errors, be more specific with your definitions, and prepare the content with more academic rigor. I do like the structure, and you have a firm foundation for the type of writing you wish to produce. Your grammar is better than most people's, though there are typos throughout to correct. Your use of the vocabulary makes me think a good review of a genetic textbook would be a good investment of time. Excellent diagrams and pictures, and while your writing is awkward at times, it isn't too flowery to distract from the information presented. You will want to flesh out certain parts though, as it is unclear, even from the given structure what information will be presented and why. It is a bit too scattered to be considered a wiki just on vertebrate/eukaryotic genetics, and not robust enough to be a wiki on ball python morphs.

Here are some specifics:

"The wide variety of Ball Python morphs available today are possible through genetic mutations. A key to successful breeding is understanding genetics at its very core."
-The first sentence is awkwardly written, and you need a transition into the second sentence. As it stands now they shouldn't be in the same paragraph.

"This article intends to be a de facto reference for explanations of genetic mutations among Ball Pythons."
-That is an uncommon use of 'de facto' and doesn't fit well with the article.
-Awkwardly worded again... article, reference, explanation all a little redundant.

-If you use quotation marks, cite the reference.

"a single gene is [the] fundamental unit of heredity. The act of procreation distributes these genes to the parents' [or parent's] offspring. By receiving the genes from two parents, it widens the gene pool, and allows offspring to [ob]tain unique genetic characteristics from each parent (second parent is redundant)."
-As an introduction for beginners you'll want to indicate new vocabulary with bold or italics and not use them as if they are part of a layman's vernacular.
-In general, the fundamentals of genetics and sexual reproduction have been widely written about. Emulating the style of published literature isn't plagiarism.

"We are already aware that chromosomes come in pairs, and as such, so do genes."
-Are we aware of this already?
-Also, if you think alleles only come in pairs, there is a significant limitation in your knowledge that if addressed will help with the short-comings of the genetic information presented here.

"We can put a number of pots and pans at each of these heating elements, however, each pot and pan has unique characteristics. In this example, the pots and pans are genes and the frying pan and sauce pan are different variations of it, or the alleles."
-Very interesting analogy, is it yours? It works.

"when discussing specific genetics of an individual morph."
-You might want to define morph to give the article a better flow and make it more informative.

"Is is extremely likely that there is a pigment gene, and the "Albino gene" is simply an allele that prevents the creation of melanin."
-What is your source for the "pigment" gene?
-For this to be a truly informative and useful article, you will probably want to investigate the different types of pigment produced by the wild-type, and discuss whether it is a disrupted gene, a disrupted promoter, or an upstream/downstream component of a genetic system that leads to phenotypic expression.

"and aside from that, we simply don't know how many genes are being affected by each charactAristic."
-Simply, because all morphs that have been identified as "genetic" through linebreeding and outcrossing, we know nearly all traits to be simple recessive, simple dominant, or co-dominant... meaning the number of genes involved in yielding any "base" morph is 1.

"a single gene is being mutated in any given morph."
-improper tense, a gene mutation arises, and if in a sex cell is passed onto progeny. All in the past.

"Earlier in the article, we learned that Ball Pythons are diploid..."
-this is the first time you've used "diploid".

"However, where these chromosomes can differ [is] in the alleles they carry."
-Most spellcheckers will detect sentence fragments....
-Also, chromosomes may also differ because of imprinting, meaning the chromosome from the mother can behave differently than the same chromosome from the father.

"During the fertilization process, the offspring retain two cells from the sire and dame"
-retain is "to keep", obtain is "to get".
-this is an inaccurate description of the fertilization process. Two haploid cells join, and their nuclei fuse. Not two cells are obtained...

"its offspring have the potential to [inherit] one of two alleles"

"any given offspring has a 50% chance of inheriting either one of the alleles."
-there's a 100% chance of inheriting either one
-there's a 50% chance of inheriting one over the other, odds is a difficult concept.

"Typically, when referencing specific morphs the morph name alone implies the animal is homozygous. Although, this depends on the allele's phenotype."
-This is the atypical case. Usually it is only a recessive morph that's name is synonymous with homozygous, with pseudo-exceptions like Leucistic.
-alleles cannot have phenotypes, alleles make up a genotype, which gives rise to a phenotype.

"A phenotype is one or more visible characteristic[s] of an organism, caused by a specific allele."
-this is an uncommon definition, that probably won't gain acceptance from an educated audience. The last clause is causing you problems.

"A recessive allele, causes a phenotype that is only visible in the homozygous form. An Albino, for example, is a simple recessive trait."
-Traits are recessive, meaning the allele in question does not have a visible effect unless the 'normal' allele's influence is removed. You'll want to careful when using the term "recessive allele" though this is probably more of a pet peeve.
-generally, "An Albino" would refer to an amelanistic individual, not a trait.

"is prefixed before the morph's heterozygous name"

"A dominant allele, causes a phenotype that is visible in both the heterozygous and homozygous form."
-this definition does not distinguish between dominant and co-dominant. Since you're so intent on using your own definitions for things, incorporate the fact that the homozygous and heterozygous forms are visibly indistinct.

"the only way to prove it is through breeding it to a normal."
-Since all spiders in captivity are descended from one animal (unless this is an urban legend), it will be very easy to tell if a Spider could be homogzygous by its pedigree which would be readily known.
-As well, simple non-specific genetic tests that do not rely on sequence knowledge could determine the zygosity of the 'Spider' locus.

"When more than a single allele is being impacted,"
-impacted by what?
-the rest of this section is some of your better writing.

"an organism with 10, 25, or 100 genetic mutations would make for a very long conversation."
-funny

"A heterozygous Albino may be written as "Na" the capital "N" showing the allele, and the lowercase "a" indicated the Albino allele."
-Randy is absolutely correct on notation. You do not complicate genetic notation by using different letters for the same trait!
-First define your gene, then your notation and give an example:
Trait - Albinism
Gene - Melanin-production protein 1
N - wildtype allele
n - albino allele
A male albino ball python would have the genotype: aaXY

"Regardless of the letters used, just remember if both letters are uppercase, the animal is normal"
-this isn't correct either.
-a 'normal' animal's Pastel locus would be pp, and a Super Pastel: PP

"if both are [of the same] case, it's a homozygote."

"Determining the possible offspring for a dame and offspring"
-what does this mean?

Good work on the Punnett Square, you'll want to fix your notation.

"When breeding a normal ball python to a heterozygous Albino, the results are 50% NN and 50% Na"
-Wrong again!
NN x Na (your notation) yields 25% Na, not 50%.
-You were thinking of breeding NN x aa.

"It is drastically important..."
-unconventional/incorrect use of 'drastically'
-awkward wording of this paragraph.

Coloration of the Punnett Square is quite impossible with "paper and pencil", and needless. I would suggest reworking this suggestion.


Hope this helps!