An F2 Barley Population as a Tool for Teaching Mendelian Genetics.

Estela Giménez,Patricia Giraldo,José Francisco Vázquez,Andrés García-Sampedro,Matilde López-Fernández,Laura Pascual,Elena Benavente

doi:10.3390/plants10040694

Estela Giménez, Patricia Giraldo + Show 5 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/plants10040694

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Abstract

In the context of a general genetics course, mathematical descriptions of Mendelian inheritance and population genetics are sometimes discouraging and students often have serious misconceptions. Innovative strategies in expositive classes can clearly encourage student’s motivation and participation, but laboratories and practical classes are generally the students’ favourite academic activities. The design of lab practices focused on learning abstract concepts such as genetic interaction, genetic linkage, genetic recombination, gene mapping, or molecular markers is a complex task that requires suitable segregant materials. The optimal population for pedagogical purposes is an F2 population, which is extremely useful not only in explaining different key concepts of genetics (as dominance, epistasis, and linkage) but also in introducing additional curricular tools, particularly concerning statistical analysis. Among various model organisms available, barley possesses several unique features for demonstrating genetic principles. Therefore, we generated a barley F2 population from the parental lines of the Oregon Wolfe Barley collection. The objective of this work is to present this F2 population as a model to teach Mendelian genetics in a medium–high-level genetics course. We provide an exhaustive phenotypic and genotypic description of this plant material that, together with a description of the specific methodologies and practical exercises, can be helpful for transferring our fruitful experience to anyone interested in implementing this educational resource in his/her teaching.

Highlights

Given the undoubted importance of genetics in relevant aspects of human lives and activities, an enhanced understanding of its fundamental pillars is necessary to prepare the generation of scientists and to ensure that life-science students acquire solid knowledge of basic genetic concepts
Type of spike, number of rows, type and length of awns, and type of grain were scored in dry spikes that had been stored when the F2 plants reached maturity (Figure 1), while leaf variegation and stem pubescence were directly scored when F2 plants were grown in the green house
An F2 population of barley was generated from the two parental lines of the Oregon Wolfe Barleys (OWB) collection

Summary

Introduction

Given the undoubted importance of genetics in relevant aspects of human lives and activities (medicine or agriculture, among others), an enhanced understanding of its fundamental pillars is necessary to prepare the generation of scientists and to ensure that life-science students acquire solid knowledge of basic genetic concepts. Several evidences indicate that the information itself is insufficient as an educational objective, and current society requires the use of alternative learning pathways to understand complex concepts and to able to work through and generate new theories, ideas, and products [2]. Improvement strategies in expositive classes can encourage student participation and motivation, but presentation of concepts only through lectures gives many students a superficial understanding of the subject [5]. Laboratories, where hands-on experiments can be performed, are one of the preferred academic activities for students and a fruitful learning environment that can be used beyond text-books and lectures as a teaching element of methodological change and educational innovation [7,8,9]

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