Genes and Society (GEK1527/LSM1302) (Semester 1 Acad.

Year 2014-15)

CA 01 Traditional Breeding and YOU

Instructions
1. Read the following article uploaded to the CA01 Assignment folder in the IVLE:
Building Tastier Fruits and Veggies written by Ferris Jabr in Scientific American (July 2014)

2. Students should download their own personal copy of the CA01 Student Answer Sheet
from the IVLE> Workbin> Assignment instruction and submission> CA01 Instructions
(folder). This file contains a series of MCQ and short answer questions. For submission,
students should write their answers directly into their own CA01 Student Answer Sheet.


Background
Humans have benefitted from controlled breeding of plants and animals for a long time. The ever
increasing human population and shrinking landmass for making food is already making it hard to
feed everyone. A key contributor to this problem is that many people do not live where their food is
grown or farmed- Singapore is a prime example. The article by Ferris Jabr explains how traditional
plant breeders are using genetic technology to help meet the nutrition needs of our future.

No matter which species or type of breeding program, there needs to be a way to evaluate and
record the presence (or absence) of traits as they are passed down from one generation to the next.
A pedigree diagram is a diagrammatic way to follow traits as they are passed over time. To give
students an appreciation for how this is done by traditional breeders, students will have the
opportunity to create their own pedigree diagram using a trait they have chosen to follow in their
own family.


Upon completion of this assignment, it is expected that students will:
1) understand how traditional breeding techniques and genetics are used in society;
2) appreciate how marker-assisted breeding differs from a genetically modified organism;
3) understand a small part of their own family history and their genetics.



Submission Instructions:
1. Students are to answer the MCQ/ short answer questions directly into the CA01 Student
Answer Sheet that can be downloaded from the IVLE> Workbin> Assignment instruction and
submission> CA01 Instructions (folder).

2. You are to submit a softcopy file of the CA01 Student Answer Sheet containing all of your
answers to the IVLE> Workbin> Assignment instruction and submission> CA01 Student
Submission (folder).

3. Deadline for your soft-copy online submission of your CA01 Assignment: Wednesday, 27 August
2014 at 17:00 (5 pm).

LATE SUBMISSION WILL NOT BE ENTERTAINED AND WILL BE GIVEN ZERO.

4. Name your softcopy file using the following format: yourmatricnumber_CA01 Assignment. For
example, if your matriculation number is A102456U, the filename should be A102456U_CA01
Assignment.

5. Save your file in the Microsoft Word document format.

6. To ensure that the correct file has been successfully uploaded to the correct folder, please login
to the IVLE website after a few minutes you have logged-out, download the file you had
uploaded to the folder, and open the downloaded file to verify that it is the correct file.

7. It is your responsibility to ensure that the correct file is uploaded successfully to the correct
folder. You will not be given a second chance to upload another file to the folder after the
deadline has passed.

8. If you decide to upload an updated version of your submission before the deadline, please
delete the older file before uploading the newer file.

9. You are required to use the IVLE to submit your file for plagiarism check and to make the
necessary changes should the Originality Report return a high similarity score (>25% is consider
high). Your script will not be marked if you fail to do so. It is your responsibility to ensure that
your written short answer explanations are not similar to other students responses or to other
sources; MCQ questions are exempt from the plagiarism check.

10. Late submission, wrong submission or failure in submission will not be entertained and student
will be awarded zero marks. Marks will be deducted for sloppy submission (e.g. incorrect file
name, no matriculation number).

11. Person in-charge: Madam Wong Wai Peng (dbswwp@nus.edu.sg)