Our biology teacher asked us to take notes on the moth population has changed, sickle cell anemia and antibiotic resistant bacteria. Here are my notes:
Moth population
Before the industrial revolution in England the white winged moth population was far greater than any other computed moths. This was due to the fact that they were able to camouflage to linchen trees, which are similar to their wings (white with linchens ), but when the industrial revolution took place and the smoke tainted the trees, the moths who had a mutation along the way, making their wings black were able to survive. The black winged moth population increased while the white winged moth population died out.
Sickle cell anemia
The normal allele for haemoglobin is “Hba”, but there’s a mutation (Hbs) that changes the shape of the blood cell, preventing it to move in the capillaries. People with Hbs alleles feel tired and short of breath because Hbs doesn’t deliver oxygen efficiently, they also feel pain because blood stops flowing naturally.
Hba Hba=normal haemoglibin.
Hba Hbs= mix of normal haemoglobin.
Hbs Hbs=sickle cell haemoglobin.
A long time ago in areas of Africa with malaria people with homozygous Hbs alleles would die early because of sickle cell anemia so they weren’t able to reproduce. People with homozygous Hba alleles died early because of malaria, but the population with heterozygous alleles survived. This means that they were able to reproduce and pass down the Hba Hbs alleles. Nowadays most of the population is Hba Hbs.
Antibiotic resistance:
Sometimes there is a mutation in a bacteria that allows it to survive the antibiotic and reproduce, causing a population of antibiotic resistant bacteria. The more a person uses a certain antibiotic the higher the chances of a bacteria to survive the antibiotic.