A Fishy Way to Discuss Multiple Genes Affecting the Same Trait

Many genetics classroom activities focus on inheritance patterns of a single gene with two different alleles. While valuable, these activities overlook additional areas of genetics research, such as multiple genes controlling a single trait. In this activity, students are introduced to the concept of complementation (see Box 1) and then determine whether blind cave fish from different locations have mutations in the same gene or different genes. Although this activity could be taught in many ways, here it is presented as a lecture with several clicker questions (see Box 2). Student responses are shown to help instructors gauge the range of student answers.