Allele Project

Sampling the allele

The characteristic you will be recording is the presence of hair on the middle joint of any finger. This is referred to in the literature as MIDPHALANGEAL HAIR. The characteristic is dominant ( Hair present is dominant and hair absent is recessive).

An individual is scored as present (P) if there is hair on the middle joint of any of their fingers. (If an individual only has hair on certain fingers you should note this for discussion purposes.)

In some individuals the hair is difficult to see and you need to look carefully at the finger joint. An individual with one hair on one middle finger joint is recorded as present.

For each individual, please record presence (P) or absence (A) of the characteristic, gender (m or f) and age group as (0 - 4, 5 - 9, 10 - 14, 15 - 19, 20 - 39, 40 +).

You could collect other information as well. It will not be recorded across the project, but might be helpful in discussions and suggesting hypotheses. You would be wise to take notes as you sample so that you have some extra information that might be useful. e.g. was hair missing on a particular finger or only on a particular finger, hair barely detectable.

Within a class group (college) you can assume that it is very unlikely that you will sample an individual sampled by another college.

Within a class group, however, students should discuss ways of avoiding double sampling. These could include recording names on sample sheets, agreeing to sampling areas, asking each individual before sampling if they have been sampled previously.

Where the characteristic is for some reason difficult to determine in a particular individual, you should note that sample for your purposes, but NOT count it in calculations or enter it on the web page.

What you call your samples does not matter you could use names, numbers or some code. This field of data is so you can recognise and check your data when you enter it on this site or when you are writing your report.