TheBloodTypeTestingLab

Marty&Nut,111

Introduction
:
Humansappearancesorphenotypesarebasedonouralleleswhicharelocatedwithinour
genes.Normally,onetypeofalleleisresponsibleforonetrait.Nevertheless,ourblood
characteristicsorourbloodtypesdonotapplytothisasmorethanonealleleaffectthe
propertiesofourblood,ultimately,leadtomorevarietiesinphenotypes.Thisisdefinedas
multiplealleictrait.
HumanbloodtypescanbecatagorizedasA,B,AB,andO.Eachhavedifferentpropertiesdue
todifferencesinarrangementofallelesorgenotype.InbloodtypeA,thepossible
arrangementofallelesareIAIA&IAi.InbloodtypeB,thepossiblepairsofallelesareIBIB&
IBi.InbloodtypeAB,theonlypossiblearrangementforthisbloodtypeisIAIB.Forbloodtype
O,thereisonlyonepossiblepairsofalleleswhichareii.
Everybloodtypehasitspropertieswhichsignifywhatbloodtypeitis.Inhumanbloodtypes,
bloodtypeAcontainsantigenAandantibodyB,bloodtypeBcontainsantigenBandantibody
A,bloodtypeABcontainsbothantigenA&Bbutpossessnoanitibody,andbloodtypeO
containsneitherantigenAnorBbuthavebothantibodyA&B.Eachtypeofantigenwillbind
withanitibodycorrespondtoitstype,forinstances,antigenAbindswithantibodyAandwhen
thishappened,thebloodwillformacoagulationwhichcanprovetobefatalasbloodcannot
flowinsuchastate.Inthisexperiment,wewillbeusingtheantibodytodeterminewhatisthe
bloodtypeofthedonorandusetheinformationgainedtoguessthedonorparent'salleles.

Materials:
1.2Microscopeslides
2.AntibodyA,B,AB
3.Markers
4.Lancets
5.LancetDevice
6.Ethanol
7.CottonBall
8.3Toothpicks
Methods:
1.Draw2circlesonbothofthemicroscopeslides.Thesizeshouldbeabout1cm.in
diameter.
2.WriteC,A,B,andABbesidesdifferentcircles.
3.Lettheexperiencedpersonalusethelancetdevicetopunctureoneoftheteammember's
finger.
4.Dropanappropriateamountofbloodwithinallofthecirclesmarkedearlier.
NOTE:
fliptheslidestotheothersidetopreventchemicalsfromthemarkertomixwiththe
blood.
5.Droponedropofdifferenttypesofantibodiesrespectivetothemarkedcircles.For
instance,dropantibodyAinthebloodthat'slabelledasA

NOTE:
donotdropanyantibodyincontrol(C).
6.Usedifferenttoothpicktomixdifferentmixture.
7.Waitfor10secondsthennotedowntheresultwithinthetablebelow.
Results:
CoagulationResults

Coagulation(yes/no)

Control

No

AntibodyA

No

AntibodyB

Yes

AntibodyAB

Yes

Discussion:

TheresultofthelabshowedthatonlybloodthatgotmixedwithantiB&ABcoagulated.
Accordingtowhatweknow,coagulationwilloccurwhenantigenandantibodywiththesame
lettermet.Thismeansthatthebloodusedforthisexperimentcontainantigenthatreactwith
antibodyB&ABthus,weknowthatthebloodcontainantigenBasitreactwithantibodyB
whichalsopresentinantibodyAB.Sincetypesofantigensignifybloodgroups(bloodtype
AantigenA,bloodtypeBantigenB),theinformationtoldusthatthisbloodtypeisB.

Martysscenario
Mom:bloddtypeB,Dad:bloodtypeA
possiblescenarios
Momsgenotype:IBIB,IBi
Dadsgenotype:ii

MartysfatherhasbloodtypeOandtheonlycasethiscanhappeniswhenhisgenotype
containbothrecessiveallele.Ontheotherhand,hismotherhavetwopossiblescenarios.
OneisthatshecontainbothdominantBalleleandtheotheristhatshecontainonerecessive
BalleleandonedominantBallelewhichthedominantallelewillcovertherecessivetrait.
Thus,thisgaveustwopossibilitywhencrossed.

1stscenario

Thefirstscenario,whereMartysmomisahomozygousdominantB,willresultineverychild
MartysmomanddadhastobeheterozygousinwhichtherecessiveOallelegotcoveredup
bythedominantBallele.Thus,everychildwillhavebloodtypeB,thus100%bloodtypeB
phenotype.
2ndscenario

Inthissecondscenario,whereMartysmomisaheterozygous,herphenotypewillstillbe
bloodtypeB.Nevertheless,whencrosswithhisrecessivedominantfather,theprobabilityof
theirchildsbloodtypewontlimittoBanymoreastheresachancethatthechildwillcarry
bothrecessiveallelejustlikehisfather,showingthephenotypicratioofbloodtypeBtoOas
1:1respectively.
Nut'sscenarios
Nut'sbloodtypeisBwhichmeansthateitherhismomordadmustcontainBallele.
Nonetheless,wedonotknowifNuthasIBIBorIBi.Thisgiveusmanypossibilityregarding
hismomanddadgenotype.Herearethepossibilityoftheirgenotype.
*Note:Theirgenotypeineachcrosscanbeswitchbuttheresultwillbethesame.
AssumingthatNutsgenotypeisIBi

AssumingthatNutsgenotypeisIBIB

Inthematterofbloodcoagulation,itisimportantforpeopletoknowtheirbloodtype.Thisis
becausebloodcoagulationisfatalandtheknowledgecanbeuseinbloodtransfusion.The
reasonwecanreceivethesametypeofbloodorthesamebloodgroup,isbecauseboththe
donorandthereceiverblooddonotcontaintheantigenandantibodythatwillreactwithone
another.Forinstance,antigenAinbloodtypeAwillreactwithantibodyAbloodtypeBand
viceversa.Nevertheless,theresexceptionstothispatternwhenitcomestobloodtypeAB
&O.BloodtypeABdonotcontainanyantibodybutpossessbothantigenA&B.Thisillustrates
thatitcannotreactwithanyantigenwhichmeansthatitcanreceivebloodfromanygroup
withanyantigen,thusitisnameduniversalreceiver.However,itcannotbedonatetoother
bloodtypesasothersantibodieswouldreactwithitsantigenandcausecoagulation.Onthe
otherhand,bloodtypeOdonothaveanyantigenbutitcontainbothantibodyA&B.Thisthen
resultinitsinabilitytoreceiveanybloodfromdonorastheantibodieswillreactwithevery
typesofantigen.TheonlypossibledonorforthisbloodtypeisthesamebloodtypeOasboth
thereceiverandthedonordonothaveantigenfortheantibodiestoreactwith.

Conclusion:
Inall,theresultofthebloodtestingleadustobelievethatitsbloodtypeisB.Thereasonthat
makeusbelievethisisbecausethecoagulationhappenedwhenwedroppedantibodyBand
AB.Sincecoagulationcanoccuronlywhenantibodyreacttoitscorrespondantigentypeand
inthiscase,antibodyBreacted,showingthatthebloodcontainsantigenB,hence,ita
bloodtypeisB.

Citation:
Mader,S.S,Windelspecht,M.(2013).
Biology:EleventhEdition.
TheMcGrawHillCompanies,
Inc.,1221AvenueoftheAmericas,Newyork,NY10020:McGrawHill.