Physics Project

Class 12 Biology
Chapter 5
PRINCIPLES OF INHERITANCE AND VARIATION
Genetics is the study of principles and mechanism of heredity and variation. Gregor Johann
Mendel is known as ‘father of Genetics’.
Inheritance is the process by which characters are passed on from parent to progeny.
It is the basis of heredity.
Variation is the degree by which progeny differ from their parents. Variation may be
in terms of morphology, physiology, cytology and behavioristic traits of individual
belonging to same species.
Variation arise due to
Reshuffling of gene/chromosomes.
Crossing over or recombination
Mutation and effect of environment.
Mendel’s Law of Inheritance : Mendel conducted hybridization experiments on garden pea

(Pisum sativum) for seven years and proposed the law of inheritance in living organisms.
Selection of pea plant: The main reasons for adopting garden pea (Pisum sativum) for
experiments by Mendel were –
Pea has many distinct contrasting characters.

Life span of pea plant is short.
Flowers show self pollination, reproductive whorls being enclosed by corolla.
It is easy to artificially cross pollinate the pea flowers. The hybrids thus produced were
fertile.
Working method: Mendel’s success was also due to his meticulous planning and method of work
–
He studied only one character at a time.

He used all available techniques to avoid cross pollination by undesirable pollen
grains.
He applied mathematics and statistics to analyse the results obtained by him.
Mendel selected 7 contrasting characters of garden pea for his hybridization
experiments
Contrasting Characters Studied by Mendel in Pea
Character Contrasting character (Dominant/Recessive)
Stem height Tall/Dwarf
Flower colour Violet/White
Flower position Axial/Terminal
Pod shape Inflated/Constricted
Pod colour Green/Yellow
Seed shape Round/wrinkled
Seed colour Yellow/Green
Mendel conducted artificial hybridization/cross pollination using true breeding pea lines.
True breeding lines are those that undergo continuous self-pollination and shows stable
trait inheritance.
Hybridization experiment includes emasculation (removal of anther) and transfer of pollen
(pollination).
Inheritance of one gene (Monohybrid cross)
Mendel crossed tall and dwarf pea plant and collected all the seeds obtained from this cross. He
grew all the seeds to generate plants of first hybrid generation called F1 generation. He observed
that all the plants are tall. Similar observation was also found in other pair of traits.
Mendel self-pollinated the F1 plants and found that in F2 generation some plants are also
dwarf. The proportion of dwarf plants is 1/4th and tall plants of 3/4th.
Mendel called the ‘factors’ that passes through gametes from one generation to next
generation. Now a day it is called as genes (unit of inheritance).
Genes that code for a pair of contrasting traits are known as alleles. Alphabetical
symbols are used to represent each gene, capital letter (TT) for gene expressed in F1
generation and small letter (tt) for other gene.
Mendel also proposed that in true breeding tall and dwarf variety allelic pair of genes for
height is homozygous (TT or tt). TT, Tt or tt are called genotype and tall and dwarf are
called phenotype.
The hybrids which contain alleles which express contrasting traits are called
heterozygous (Tt).
The monohybrid ratio of F2 hybrid is 3:1(phenotypic) and 1:2:1(genotypic).
Test cross is the cross between an individual with dominant trait and a recessive organism in
order to know whether the dominant trait is homozygous or heterozygous.
Principle or Law of Inheritance
Based on observations of monohybrid cross, Mendel proposed two law of inheritance-
1. Law of dominance- states that –
a. Characters are controlled by discrete units called factors.

b. Factors always occur in pair.
c. In a dissimilar pair of factors one member of pair dominate the other
2. Law of Segregation- alleles do not blends and both the characters are recovered during
gametes formation as in F2 generation. During gametes formation traits segregate (separate) from
each other and passes to different gametes. Homozygous produce similar kinds of gametes but
heterozygous produce to different kinds of gametes with different traits.
Incomplete dominance
It is a post Mendelian discovery. Incomplete dominance is the phenomenon of neither of the

two alleles being dominant so that expression in the hybrid is a fine mixture or intermediate
between the expressions of two alleles.
In snapdragon (Mirabilis jalapa), there are two types of pure breeding plants, red flowered
and white flowered. On crossing the two, F1 plants possess pink flowers. On selfing them,
F2 generation has 1red: 2 pink: 1white. The pink flower is due to incomplete dominance.
Co-dominance
It is the phenomenon of two alleles lacking dominance-recessive relationship and both

expressing themselves in the organism.
Human beings, ABO blood grouping are controlled by gene I. The gene has three
A, B A, B
alleles I I and i. Any person contains any two of three allele I I are dominant over
i.
The plasma membrane of the red blood cells has sugar polymers that protrude from its
surface and the kind of sugar is controlled by the gene.
A B
When I and I are present together, both express their own types of sugars because of
co-dominance.
Incomplete Dominance Co-Dominance
1. Effect of one of the two alleles is 1. Effect of both the alleles are
more conspicuous. equally conspicuous.
2. It produces a mixture of the expression of 2. There is no mixing of the effect of

two alleles. the two alleles.
3. The F1 does not resemble either of 3. The F1 resembles both the parents.
the parents.
E.g.: Flower colour in dog flower. E.g.: ABO blood grouping in humans,
Multiple Alleles
They are multiple forms of a medelian factor or gene which occur on the same gene locus
distributed in different organisms in the gene pool with an organism carrying only two alleles
and a gamete only one allele. ABO blood grouping also provides a good example of multiple
alleles.
Inheritance of Two genes (Dihybrid Cross)
A cross made to study simultaneous inheritance of two pairs of mendelian factors of genes.
Law of independent Assortment – The law states that ‘when two pairs of traits are combined in a
hybrid, segregation of one pair of characters is independent of the other pair of characters’.In
Dihybrid cross two new combinations, round green & wrinkled yellow are formed due to
independent assortment of traits for seed shape i.e round, wrinkled and seed color i.e , yellow and
green.
The ratio of 9:3:3:1 can be derived as a combination series of 3 yellow: 1 green, with 3 round :
1 wrinkled. This derivation can be written as follows: (3 Round : 1 Wrinkled) (3 Yellow : 1
Green) = 9 Round, Yellow : 3 Wrinkled, Yellow: 3 Round, Green : 1 Wrinkled, Green
Chromosomal Theory of Inheritance
Chromosome as well as gene both occurs in pair. The two alleles of a gene pair are
located on the same locus on homologous chromosomes.
Sutton and Boveri argued that the pairing and separation of a pair of chromosomes would
lead to segregation of a pair of factors (gene) they carried.
Sutton united the knowledge of chromosomal segregation with mendelian principles and
called it the chromosomal theory of inheritance.

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Class 12 Biology

Mendel’s Law of Inheritance : Mendel conducted hybridization experiments on garden pea

Pea has many distinct contrasting characters.

He studied only one character at a time.

Contrasting Characters Studied by Mendel in Pea

Character Contrasting character (Dominant/Recessive)

Stem height Tall/Dwarf

Flower colour Violet/White

Flower position Axial/Terminal

Pod shape Inflated/Constricted

Pod colour Green/Yellow

Seed shape Round/wrinkled

Seed colour Yellow/Green

Principle or Law of Inheritance

Based on observations of monohybrid cross, Mendel proposed two law of inheritance-

1. Law of dominance- states that –

a. Characters are controlled by discrete units called factors.

It is a post Mendelian discovery. Incomplete dominance is the phenomenon of neither of the

It is the phenomenon of two alleles lacking dominance-recessive relationship and both

Incomplete Dominance Co-Dominance

2. It produces a mixture of the expression of 2. There is no mixing of the effect of

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