Heredity and Evolution

By: Yash Saxena

Heredity

• The transfer of traits from one generation to the next is termed

heredity. Genes are the functional units of heredity, that transfer
characteristics from parents to offspring.
• Genes are short stretches of DNA that code for a specific
protein or RNA.

• Genetics is the branch of biology that deals with the study of

genes, heredity and variations.
Sexual reproduction
•The mode of reproduction involves two individuals; one male and one
female.
•They produce sex cells or gametes which fuse to form a new organism.

Genes
•Gene is the functional unit of heredity.
•Every gene controls one or several particular characteristic features in living
organisms.

Heredity
The process by which the features of an organism are passed on from one
generation to another is called heredity.
Mendel’s work
• Gregor Johann Mendel, known as the ‘Father of Genetics’, was an
Austrian Monk who worked on pea plants to understand the concept
of heredity.
His work laid the foundation of modern genetics.
• The rules for inheritance of traits in human beings are related to the
fact that both mother and father contribute an equal amount of
genetic material i.e. DNA to their offspring. So an offspring will get
two versions of that trait from the two parents.
• Mendel worked out rules for inheritance of these traits. Gregor
Johann Mendel regarded as the ‘Father of Genetics’ performed his
experiments with garden peas (Pisum sativum) in the garden behind
his monastery.
• He observed a number of contrasting characters in garden peas and
observed their inheritance.
Some important terms
1. Chromosomes are long thread-like structures present in the nucleus
of a cell which contain hereditary information of the cell in the form of
genes.
2. DNA is a chemical in the chromosome which carries the traits in a
coded form.
3. Gene is the part of a chromosome which controls a specific
biological function.
4. Contrasting characters: A pair of visible charactes such as tall and
dwarf, white and violet flowers, round and wrinkled seeds, green and
yellow seeds etc.
5. Dominant trait: The character which expresses itself in a (Ft)
generation is dominant trait. Example : Tallness is a dominant
character in pea plant.
6. Recessive trait: The character which does not express itself but is
present in a generation is recessive trait. Ex. dwarfism in the pea plant.
7. Homozygous: A condition in which both the genes of same type are
present for example; an organism has both the genes for tallness it is
expressed as TT and genes for dwarfness are written as tt.
8. Heterozygous: A condition in which both the genes are of different
types for example; an organism has genes Tt it means it has a gene
for tallness and the other for dwarfness only tall character is
expressed.
9. Genotype: It is genetic make up of an individual for example; A pure
tall plant is expressed as TT and hybrid tall as Tt.
10. Phenotype: It is external appearance of the organism for example;
a plant having Tt composition will appear tall although it has gene for
dwarfness.
11. Homologous pair of characters are those in which one member is
contributed by the father and the other member by the mother and
both have genes for the same character at the same position.
Monohybrid Cross: The cross in which Mendel showed inheritance of
dominant and recessive characters is monohybrid cross. To observe
inheritance of single pair of contrasting characters
• took pure tall (genotype TT) and pure dwarf
(genotype tt) pea plants and cross pollinated
them to obtain first generation or first filial
generation.
• In this figuration (F1 generation) he obtained only
tall plants. This meant that only one of the
parental traits was seen, not the mixture of the
two.
• The plants of F generation or progeny are then
self pollinated to obtain F2 generation or
progeny.
• Now all plants were not tall. He obtained 75% tall
plants and 25% dwarf plants i.e. the phenotypic
ratio was 3:1.
• This indicates that in the F, generation both tall
and dwarf traits were inherited but tallness
expressed it self.
• Tallness is a dominant trait and dwarfness is a
recessive trait. F2 generation has a genotypic
ratio of 1 : 2 : 1 of three types of plants
represented by TT, Tt and tt as shown in the
cross.
Dihybrid Cross:
• Mendel also carried out experiments to
observe inheritance of two pairs of
contrasting characters, which is called
dihybrid cross.
• He cross breed pea plants bearing
round green seed with plants bearing
wrinkled and yellow seeds.
• In the Fx generation he obtained all
round and yellow seeds it means round
and yellow traits of seeds are dominant
features while wrinkled and green are
recessive.
• He self-pollinated the plants of F: Conclusion
generation to obtain F2 generation, he •Round and yellow
obtained four different types of seeds seeds-9.
round yellow, round green, wrinkled •Round and green
yellow and wrinkled green in the ratio of seeds-3.
9 : 3 : 3 : 1. •Wrinkled and yellow
• He concluded that traits are seeds-3.
independently inherited •Wrinkled and green
seeds-1.
Laws of Mendel
1. Law of Dominance says that a gene has two contrasting alleles and one
always expresses itself in the organism.
It is called the dominant gene and it expresses in any possible combination.

2. Law of Segregation says that traits get segregated completely during the
formation of gametes without any mixing of alleles.

3.Law of Independent Assortment says that the traits can segregate

independently of different characters during gamete formation.
Sex determination in human
• The process of determining the sex of an individual, based
on the composition of the genetic material is called sex
determination.
• In different animals, the sex of an embryo is determined by
different factors.
• In humans, sex determination happens on the basis of the
presence or absence of the Y chromosome.
• XX is female and XY is male
• An ovum always contains an X chromosome.
• An ovum, upon fusion with the Y containing sperm, gives
rise to a male child and upon fusion with the X containing
sperm gives rise to a girl child.

Autosomes: Those chromosomes which do not play any role in sex determination.
Sex chromosomes: Those chromosomes which play a role in determining sex of the newborn.
•If the sperm having X chromosome fertilizes with ovum with X chromosome then the baby will
have XX chromosome and it will be female.
•If the sperm having Y chromosome fertilizes with ovum with X chromosome then the baby will
have XY chromosomes and it will be male.
 Sex linked inheritance
• It is the genetic disease caused due to presence of gene only on sex
chromosomes
• Examples include hemophilia and color blindness
• Its cause is inheriting a recessive allele on the X Chromosome
• Hemophilia is one such disease.in it the blood is prevented from clotting in
case of wound or injury
• Sex linked diseases are passed in crisscross manner that is from father to
daughter (may be carrier/affected) to grandson who is affected
• CASE 1: when Normal mother and color-blind father have children all the
daughter will be carrier (XX°) as they receive X° from affected father and sons
are normal
• CASE 2: when carrier mother and normal father have children, they might have
normal daughter, normal son, carrier daughter (XX°) and color-blind son (X°Y)
as they receive X° from affected mother.
Mutation
• Mutations can cause change in structure of gene or sequence of DNA
• These changes result in alteration in gene function.
• One example of disease caused due to mutation is sickle
cellanemia.in this disease a single nucleotide change causes the
shape of RBCs to become sickle shaded or deformed.
• Another source of mutation in DNA is radioactive radiations. These
radiations alter the gene structure and their effect can be seen up to
various generations.
• One such example of effect of radiation is seen in Japan after the
nuclear attack during World War II.