Which of the studies below provide evidence linking genes and behavior? (Check all that apply)

Question

_____ Fruit flies that are mutant for the genes dunce or rutabaga have impaired learning.
_____ Mice that are lacking either the ephrinB3 or the EphA4 gene cannot walk normally, but instead hop like a kangaroo.
_____ Two lines of fruit flies were created by repeatedly selecting for high or low aggressive behavior. After multiple generations, the high line was reliably more aggressive than the low line.
_____  Twin studies comparing monozygotic and dizygotic twins have found a high heritability for height, although environmental influences like nutrition also play a role.


Clarify question:
What is the key concept addressed by the question?

What type of thinking is required?

Gather Content:
What do you already know about the genetics that underlies a behavior? What other information is related to the question? 

Choose Answer: Given what you now know, what information is most likely to produce the correct answer?

Reflection on Process:
Did your problem-solving process lead you to the correct answer? If not, where did the process break down or lead you astray? How can you revise your approach to produce a more desirable result?
 

Answer 1

__X__  Fruit flies that are mutant for the genes dunce or rutabaga have impaired learning.
__X__  Mice that are lacking either the ephrinB3 or the EphA4 gene cannot walk normally, but instead hop like a kangaroo.
__X__  Two lines of fruit flies were created by repeatedly selecting for high or low aggressive behavior. After multiple generations, the high line was reliably more aggressive than the low line.
_____  Twin studies comparing monozygotic and dizygotic twins have found a high heritability for height, although environmental influences like nutrition also play a role.


Clarify question:
What is the key concept addressed by the question?
Identifying evidence for the connections between a behavior and the genes involved.

What type of thinking is required?
This is an analyze question. You are being presenting the 4 different studies and you need to select the ones that are linking genes and behavior. You need to read each choice and see what the genes are doing and then determine if the answer choice is an example of a gene modification to an animal’s behavior. There is more than one correct answer.

Gather Content:
What do you already know about the genetics that underlies a behavior? What other information is related to the question? 
This question comes from the section of the textbook that discusses scientific studies that have shown the links between animal behavior and the genes that underlie the behavior.  Learning, locomotion, and aggression are all examples of behavior. The physical size of an organism is not a behavior.

Choose Answer: Given what you now know, what information is most likely to produce the correct answer?
All are examples of behaviors except for the twin study that demonstrates the heritability of height.

Reflection on Process:
Did your problem-solving process lead you to the correct answer? If not, where did the process break down or lead you astray? How can you revise your approach to produce a more desirable result?
Were you able to select all of the correct choices? You had to look over all the choices and pick out all of the ones that demonstrated the link between genes and behavior.