Dr. Moalem discusses the importance of folic acid on page 52 and mentions that folic acid has multiple crucial functions in the body. First, research what folic acid is exactly. What type of nutrient is it? Next, name and explain 3 functions of folic acid. Dr. Moalem gives two; research one more.
Dr. Moalem also explains how folic acid relates to the evolution of skin color on page 53, which relates to Big Idea number 1: "The process of evolution drives the diversity and unity of life."How does the adaptation of dark skin color relate not only to the protection against sunburn, but to folic acid?
Next, state the inheritance pattern of skin color and explain how this type of inheritance pattern works. Lastly, do this problem. Lucy has a medium skin color and marries a man with light skin color. What is the genotypic and phenotypic ratio of their children? (Jeremy Bush jbush3@students.d125.org)
On page 52, Dr. Moalem talks about Folate. Folate, or folic acid, is found in green foods like cabbage and spinach. Folic acid is a part of the B vitamin family of supplements and is a crucial necessity for your body. Folate helps the body replicate DNA when the cell divides, helps and promotes body growth, and enhances the body's metabolism. This may explain why pregnant women need a sufficient amount of folic acid. According to Dr. Moalem, pregnant women who lack in folic acid tend to have greater risks in birth defects. This is because without folic acid, cellular growth and DNA replication of the fetus isn't at its most optimal point. Interestingly enough, Science Daily shares that women who take folic acid supplements tend to have a lower autism risk. This makes sense because with more folic acid, the mutation risk isn't as high. Also, it further stated that women who took folate supplements from 4 weeks before conception to 8 weeks into pregnancy had a 40% lower risk of giving birth to children with autism. However, if they took the supplements later in their pregnancy, it wasn't effective, nor could they see a lowered risk of autism. This is probably because the folic acid is needed in the early stages of pregnancy when the fetus is just starting to grow.
ReplyDeleteFolic acid relates to the the evolution of skin color, as mentioned on page 53. Skin is the larges organ in humans and has many functions in maintaining homeostasis and protecting the body from the environment. Another role of the skin seems to be protecting the body's storage of folic acid, as well as being a part of creating vitamin D. This function connects the the evolution of skin color and the rise of darker skin. This relates to Big Idea 1: The process of evolution drives the diversity and unity of life. In order for people who live in hot areas with a lot of sun to prevent folic acid loss, darker skin was needed, or selected for. Darker skin is essentially a protection against sunburns and loss of folate. Hence, darker skin isn't merely the work of the sun (environment), but it is the selective advantage of darker skin in protecting folate in the body. Evolution was in favor of darker skin colors in hotter and sunnier areas.
-Crystal Chang (cchang3@students.d125.org
Skin color is a polygenic trait, which means that more than one gene is a factor to the characteristic. This is why there are so many skin tones between people of all different ethincitiy and geographical areas. If, for example, Lucy has a medium skin color and marries a man with light skin color, its hard to tell what the exact skin color of their children will be. But it will be on the range of medium-light. The environment also needs to be taken into consideration. If they live in a sunny location and their children go out to play often, they might end up with darker skin. In general, this connects to the DNA/patterns of inheritance unit because we learned that every trait is genetic. But, there is always a environmental factor that accounts for the general outcome of the characteristic.
ReplyDelete-Crystal Chang (cchang3@students.d125.org)