CH:9:HEREDITY & EVOLUTION

 The transmission of characters from parents to offsprings is called heredity.

 The branch of science that deals with the study of heredity and variation is called
genetics.
Variation
 It is the occurrence of differences among individuals.
Cause of variation
 Recombination
 Mutations
 Errors in DNA copying
Importance of variation
 It increases the chances of survival in a changing environment. (OR) It helps organisms
to survive in adverse conditions
 It forms the basis of heredity and evolution.

Variations in human beings

 The lowest part of the ear is called ear lobe.

 In most of the people, its hanging and is called free ear lobe.
 In some people the ear lobe is closely attached to the side of the head and is called
attached ear lobe.
 The free earlobe and attached earlobe are two variations found in human population.

Heredity & variation in asexual and sexual reproduction

 In asexual reproduction, the organisms produced are exactly identical to their parents
and are called clones.Sometimes occasional variations are produced in offsprings due to
environmental factors.
 In sexual reproduction, since there is the fusion of gametes the offsprings show
variations. These variations are heritable.
Mendel’s experiment on pea plant (Pisum sativum)
 Mendel is known as the father of genetics.
 He selected pea plants for his experimental studies because of the following reasons.
1.It has 7 pairs of contrasting characters.
2.It is self-pollinating.
3.It has short life cycle.
4.It is easily available.
 TRAIT DOMINANT RECESSIVE
1.Height of plant Tall (TT) (Tt) Dwarf (tt)
2.Colour of flowers Violet/Red (WW) (Ww) White (ww)
3.Shape of seed Round (RR) Wrinkled (rr)
4.Colour of seed Yellow (YY) (Yy) Green (yy)
5.Shape of pod Inflated (II) (Ii) Constricted (ii)
6.Colour of pod Green (YY) (Yy) Yellow (yy)
7,Position of flower Axial (AA) (Aa) Terminal (aa)

Phenotype
 The trait which is visible in an organism is called its phenotype.
 It can also be defined as the physical characteristic of an organism.
 Eg: Tall, dwarf, round etc
Genotype
 It is the genetic make up of an organism.
 It can also be defined as the description of genes present in an organism.
 Eg: TT, tt, Tt, RR etc
Allele
 Alternative forms of a gene are called alleles.
Dominant gene
 The gene which decides the appearance of an organism, even in the presence of an
alternative gene is known as a dominant gene.It is represented by a capital letter.
Recessive gene
 The gene which decides the appearance of an organism, only in the presence of
another identical gene is called recessive gene. It is represented by a small letter.
Monohybrid cross
 Crosses involving a single pair of contrasting character is called a monohybrid cross.
 Eg: Cross between a tall pea plant (TT) and a dwarf pea plant (tt)
Dihybrid cross
 Crosses involving two pairs of contrasting characters are called a dihybrid cross.
 Eg: Cross between a round yellow seeded plant (RRYY) and a wrinkled green seeded
plant (rryy)
Pure breeding /true breeding
It refers to a group of identical individuals that always produce offsprings of the same
phenotype when intercrossed. This occurs only when they are homozygous.
SEX DETERMINATION IN HUMANS
 The process of determining the sex of a person is called sex determination.
 Human beings have 23 pairs(46) of chromosomes. Of that 22 pairs are not involved in
reproduction and are called autosomes. The last one pair of chromosomes are involved
in reproduction and are called sex chromosomes (allosome).
 There are two types of sex chromosomes, X and Y.
 Woman have a perfect pair of sex chromosome named XX whereas men have a
mismatched pair, XY, where one is a normal sized X and the other a small sized Y.
 During fertilization , if a sperm carrying ‘X’ chromosome fuses with an ovum, then
the child will be a girl . If a sperm carrying ‘Y’ chromosome fuses an ovum, then the
child will be boy.

FATHER MOTHER

XY XX

(X) (Y) (X)

XX (Girl) XY (Boy)
SEX DETERMINATION IN OTHER ANIMALS
 In some animals the sex is not determined genetically. It is determined by
some environmental factors.
 In animals like turtles , the temperature at which the egg is incubated
determines the sex of the offspring. This is called temperature -dependent
sex determination or TSD.
 Research shows that if the eggs are incubated below 27.7°C, the turtle
offsprings (or hatchlings) will turn to males and if the eggs are incubated
above 31°C, the offsprings will change into females.
 In snails, the individuals can change sex. The snail is born as a male but
eventually change into female. They use physical contact with other snail to
guide sex change.The larger snail will transit from male to female and the
smaller snail will stay as male.

BLOOD GROUPING

 Human beings may have any of the four blood groups- A, B, AB and O.
  These blood groups are controlled by genes namely Ia, Ib and Io. Of these Ia and
Ib are codominant genes whereas I o is recessive in relation with Ia and Ib.
 If the geneotype of a person is IaIa, and IaIo, then the blood group of the person
is ‘A’.
 If the geneotype of a person is IbIb, and IbIo, then the blood group of the person
is ‘B’.
 If the geneotype of a person is I oIo, then the blood group of the person is ‘O’.
ACQUIRED TRAIT
 The trait of an organism which is not inherited but develops in response to
the environment is called an acquired trait.
 These traits are acquired during the life time of an individual.
 If a trait has to be inherited, it should bring about changes in the DNA of the
reproductive cells.
 In the case of an acquired trait, the changes are not taking place in the DNA
of the reproductive cells and hence these traits are not inherited.
 Eg: The cut tail of a mice is not inherited to its offsprings.

INHERITED TRAIT

 The traits which are transmitted from the parents to offsprings during the
process of fertilization are called inherited traits.
 These traits are inherited to the offsprings because, the changes are taking
place in the DNA of the reproductive cells.
 Eg:Eye colour, height, skin colour , hair colour etc.

MENDEL’s LAWS OF INHERITANCE

1.Law of Dominance : According to this law, only the dominant character is

expressed in the F1 generation while the recessive character is hidden. (It is
because the dominant gene masks the expression of the recessive gene)

2.Law of Segregation: This law states that each trait consist of two alleles
which segregate during the formation of gametes and one allele from each
parent combines during fertilization.

3.Law of Independent Assortment: It states that a pair of traits segregate

independently of another pair during gamete formation.

NCERT QUESTIONS
1.How does the creation of variations in a species promote its survival?
 Due to creation of variations, a species can adjust to the changing environment around
it and this promotes the survival of the species in the changing environment. For
example: The accumulation of ‘heat resistant’ variation in some bacteria will ensure
its survival even when the temperature in the environment rises. On the other hand the
bacteria which did not have this variation to withstand heat would not survive and die.

2.How do Mendel’s experiment show that traits may be dominant or recessive ?

Phenotype : Tall X Dwarf
Genotype : TT tt
Gametes : (T) (t)

Tt F1 (All tall)

F1 x F1 =F2

Phenotype : Tall X Tall

Genotype : Tt Tt
Gametes : (T) (t) (T) (t)

Tt

T TT Tt

t tt
Tt

Phenotypic ratio = 3 Tall : 1 Dwarf

= 3:1
Genotypic ratio = TT-1
Tt -2
tt-1
=1:2:1
Mendel crossed pure-bred tall pea plants with pure-bred dwarf pea plants and found
that only tall pea plants were produced in the F1 generation. No dwarf plants were
obtained.From this he concluded that only the character of the dominant parent is
expressed in the F1 generation while the recessive character remains hidden. But in
the F2 generation, when the F1 plants were self- crossed, he found that ¾ thof the
plants were tall and ¼ th of the plants were dwarf. So he concluded that the recessive
character that remains hidden in the F1 generation is expressed in the F2 generation.
In this way he proved that traits may be dominant or recessive.

3.How do Mendel’s experiment show that traits are inherited independently?

Phenotype : Round Yellow X Wrinkled Green

Genotype : RRYY rryy
Gametes : (RY) (ry)

RrYy F1
Round Yellow

F1 x F1 =F2
Phenotype : Round Yellow X Round Yellow
Genotype : RrYyRrYy
Gametes : (RY) (Ry) (rY) (ry) (RY) (Ry) (rY) (ry)

Punnet square (F2generation )

Phenotypic ratio
Round Yellow :9
Wrinkled Yellow :3
Round Green :3
Wrinkled Green :1
=9:3:3:1
Genotypic ratio
1:2:1:2:4:2:1:2:1
Mendel crossed pure-bred round yellow pea plants with pure-bred wrinkled green pea
plants and found that only round yellow pea plants were produced in the F1
generation. No wrinkled green plants were obtained. It is because the recessive trait is
not expressed in the F1 and it remains hidden. In the F2 generation, the offspring
obtained were with parental phenotypes (i.e, round yellow and wrinkled green) and
other phenotypes (wrinkled yellow and round green). Thus in the F2 generation all the
characters were inherited and it also indicates that original parental combinations are
separated which in the process gets inherited independently by the offspring in the
next generations.
4. Why are traits acquired during the life time of an individual not inherited?
If a trait of an organism is to be inherited, it should bring about a change in the DNA
(genes) present in the reproductive cells or gametes of that organism. The traits
acquired during the life-time of a person do not bring about a change in the genes
present in the reproductive cells and hence they are not inherited by the offsprings.

5. Why are the small number of surviving tigers a cause of worry from the point of
view of genetics?
Sometimes a species may completely die out and become extinct. Once a species is
extinct, its genes are lost forever. It cannot re-emerge at all. Our coming generations
will not be able to see tigers at all.
6. A Mendelian experiment consisted of breeding tall pea plants bearing violet
flowers with short pea plants bearing white flowers. The progeny all bore violet
flowers, but almost half of them were short. This suggest that the genetic make up of
the tall parent can be depicted as:
(a)TTWW (b)TTww (c)TtWW (d)TtWw
Ans: TtWW could be the genetic make up of the tall parent. Since half of the
progenies are short, the parent plant will also have a set of short (dwarf) genes. All
progenies bore violet flowers, which means that violet colour is dominant over white.
7. A man with blood group ‘A’ marries a woman with blood group ‘O’. Is this
information enough to tell you which of the traits –blood group ‘A’ or ‘O’ is
dominant? Why or why not?

The dominance of a trait is tested over atleast 3 generations. In the above discussed
situation, data from only two generation is given. Hence, it cannot be concluded which
blood type is dominant.
In ABO blood grouping, blood type A is always dominant whereas, the blood type O
is always recessive. Here, the father’s blood group is A, hence it can either be
homozygous (IAIA)or heterozygous (IAIO). The mother’s blood group is O and it is
only possible if it is heterozygous (IOIO). For the daughter to have blood group O, the
father must be heterozygous (IAIO) and mother must be homozygous (IOIO)

Phenotype: A O

Genotype : IAIO X IOIO

(father)(mother)
 Gametes : (IA) (IO) (IO)

(IAIO) (IOIO)

A O

8. Outline a project which aims to find the dominant coat colour in dogs.

A black homozygous male is mated with a brown homozygous female dog. If the progeny in F1
generation are all black, then it indicates that black is dominant over brown. But if the progeny
are all brown then it indicates that brown is dominant over black.

Eg: Assuming that black coat colour is dominant

Phenotype: Black X Brown

Genotype : BB X bb

Gametes : (B) (b)

Bb F1

All black, so black is the dominat trait

9.Explain how sexual reproduction give rise to more viable variations than asexual
reproduction.

The asexual reproduction give rise to small variations because in this process the DNA of only
one parent is copied. Due to this, the offsprings look alike and will be genetically identical to
the parent. Eg: The daughter amoebae produced as a result of asexual reproduction will be
genetically same as that of the parent amoeba.
On the other hand, sexual reproduction give rise to large variations because in this process DNA
from the gametes of two parents is combined together. It is due to the large variations produced
in sexual reproduction that no two individuals look alike (except in the case of identical twins).

10.How is the equal genetic contribution of male and female parents ensured in the progeny?

OR

Why is the amount of DNA not doubled during sexual reproduction?

The gamete cells (i.e sperm & ovum) are produced by a special type of cell division called
meiosis. The gametes formed as a result will be haploid (n)i.e , they contain only half the
number of chromosomes (23 chromosomes) as compared with the other cells (somatic cells). So
when these haploid gamete cells fuse together during fertilization, the zygote formed will have
the normal number of chromosomes , that is 23 pairs of chromosomes (or 46 chromosomes).
The zygote is diploid (2n) i.e they contain the full set of chromosome.

SPERM (n) + OVUM (n) = ZYGOTE (2n)

11. Only variations that confer advantage to an individual organism will survive in a population.
Do you agree with this statement? Why or why not?

Yes. Only those variations that confer an advantage to an individual organism will survive in a
population. This will become clear from the following example. Suppose there is a population
of red beetles in the green bushes and a colour variation arises during reproduction, so that one
fly is now green in colour. This green coloured beetle can easily mix up with the colour of the
bushes and so cannot be eaten by predators and hence its population will increase whereas the
red colour beetles may gradually decrease in population.

12.A pure breeding talland round seeded plant is crossed with a pure breeding short and
wrinkled seeded plant. If 1600 plants were obtained in F2 progeny, write the number of plants
having traits

(a)Tall with round seeds (b) Short with wrinkled seeds

Ans: Phenotypic ratio of a dihybrid cross is 9:3:3:1

9-tall round, 3-tall wrinkled, 3-short round, 1-short wrinkled

9+3+3+1=16

(a)tall with round seeds =9/16 x 1600= 900

(b)short with wrinkled seeds = 1/16 x 1600 = 100

13. On crossing two heterozygous round seeded plants (Rr), a total of 1000 seeds were obtained
in F2 generation. What will be the respective number of round and wrinkled seeded plants
obtained in F2 generation?

Ans:

Phenotypic ratio: 3:1

3+1=4

Total seeds: 1000

Round= ¾ x 1000=750

Wrinkled=1/4 x 1000= 250

14. On crossing a round and wrinkled seeded plant, a total of 500 seeds were obtained in the F2
generation. What will be the respective number of plants have genes RR, Rr and rr?

Ans:

Genotypic ratio: 1:2:1

1+2+1=4

Total seeds: 500

RR= ¼ x 500= 125

Rr= 2/4 x 500 =250

Rr= ¼ x 500 =125

*****************************************************************************