Heridity and inheritance

Introduction
Heredity refers to the passing of characteristics from one generation to the
next.

Here in this chapter, we will learn about the mechanism by which variations
are created, the rules of heredity determining their pattern of inheritance,
and how the accumulation of these variations leads to evolution.

Heredity
The process by which the features of an organism are passed on from
one generation to another is called 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.

inheritance
A trait that is passed from parent to child genetically is referred as an
inheritance An inherited trait is a particular genetically determined
feature that distinguishes a person from the others .
for example; attached or free ear lobes in human beings.Colour of eye ,
hair etc.

Variation
Variation is defined as the small changes or
differences among the members of a species which
happens over the period of time .

· During the process of reproduction

( meiosis )there is always a chance of variation.
This is necessary for the evolution of organisms.
· It can be changed in the traits like color of hair or
eyes which the offspring exhibits.
· Variation is responsible for the different
morphological and physiological features in
organisms.

How Variation occurs in Offspring?

There are two types of variation in reproduction which are
mentioned below:
Variation in Asexual Reproduction
In this type of reproduction only a single parent is involved in the
reproduction.
In asexual reproduction there is not much variation seen in these
kind of offspring therefore only little changes are been seen.
Due to the inaccurate happening during DNA copying
mechanism only little variation happens in these type of
reproduction.
For example: Little changes are seen in fruits and
vegetables due to single parent involvement.

Variation in Sexual Reproduction

In this type of reproduction two parents are involved due to fusion
of gametes from the two different individuals.
 When there are two different individual then their genes mixed and
then it causes maximum number of variations in their offspring.
These offspring looks different from the parents. Further this
variation is transferred from generation to generation which
maintains the genetic continuity.
For example: The offspring of Human being shows accumulation of
variation

Importance of Variation
· Evolution occurs because of variation in an individual.
· Because of variations we can differentiate offsprings of single
parents whether it is sexual or asexual mode of reproduction.
· Variations lead to the base of healthy genes from generation after
generation.
· It is easy to adapt in any condition with the help of variations.
· It is helpful in the selection process of the best trait.
· Main advantage of variation to species is that it increases the
chances of its survival in a changing environment

Example,
Bacteria that can withstand heat will survive better in a heat wave.

Free ear lobes and attached ear lobes are two variants found in
human populations

Rules for the Inheritance of Traits --Mendel and His Work on

Inheritance

→ Gregor Johann Mendel (1822 & 1884) started his experiments on

plant breeding and hybridisation. He proposed the laws of
inheritance in living organisms.

→ Mendel was known as Father of Genetics.

→ Plant selected by Mendel: Pisum sativum (garden pea). He used a

number of contrasting characters for garden pea.
 Seven pairs of contrasting characters in Garden Pea

Character Trait Dominant Trait Recessive Trait

Flower colour Violet White
Flower position Axial Terminal
Seed colour Yellow Green
Seed shape Round Wrinkled
Pod shape Inflated Constricted
Pod colour Green Yellow
Height of plant Tall Dwarf/Short

Medel’s Experimental Material

• He chose Garden Pea (Pisum sativum) as his experiment material

because of:

→ Availability of detectable contrasting traits of several characters.

→ Short life span of the plant.
→ Normally allows self-fertilisation but cross-fertilisation can also be
carried out.
→ Large no. of seeds produced.

• Mendel’s Experiments: Mendel conducted a series of experiments

in which he crossed the pollinated plants to study one character (at
a time).

Monohybrid Cross

→ Cross between two pea plants with one pair of contrasting

characters is called a monohybrid cross.
Example: Cross between a tall and a dwarf plant (short).

__
Punnet square or Checker board of monohybrid cross

He took pea plants with different characteristics --- a tall and a short
plant , produced progeny by crossing them and found that all the
plants were tall .He called them as F1 generation.

→ First-generation or F1 progeny are no ‘medium-height’ plants. All

plants were tall. Mendal allowed the plants self pollination. the seeds
were collected and again sowed . The plants raised of the F 2
generation

→In Second-generation or F2 generation plants are not all tall . They

were both tall and dwarf in a ratio 3: 1. Theisratio of characters arising out
of this cross at F2 generation is called the monohybrid ratio,

→ Both the tallness and shortness traits were inherited in the F1

plants, but only the tallness trait was expressed. Thus, two copies of

→ These two may be identical or may be different depending on the

the trait are inherited in each sexually reproducing organism.

parentage.

→ Phenotypic ratio → 3 : 1 (Three tall and one short)

→ Genotypic ratio → 1 : 2 : 1 (TT-one, Tt-two, tt-one)

Phenotype means Physical appearance either they are

Tall or Short.
Genotype means Genetic make up that are TT, Tt or tt.
Observations of Monohybrid Cross

(i) All F1 progeny were tall, no medium height plant. (Half way
characteristic)

(ii) F2 progeny ¼ were short, ¾ were tall.

(iii) Phenotypic ratio F2 – 3 : 1 (3 tall : 1 short)

Conclusions

→ TT and Tt both are tall plants while tt is a short plant.

→A single copy of T is enough to make the plant tall, while both
copies have to be ‘t’ for the plant to be short.

Traits are of two types

1. Dominant Traits
The traits that express themselves in an organism in every possible
combination and can be seen are called Dominant traits.
· In Mendel’s experiment, we see that the tall trait in pea plants tends to express more
than the short trait.

· Therefore, the tall trait of the plant is said to be dominant over the short trait.

· TT, : dominant traits,

2. Recessive Traits
A trait which is not expressed in the presence of a dominant allele is known
as recessive.
· So, a recessive character/trait is present in an organism but cannot be seen if a
dominant allele exists.
Tt : are recessive alleles

Dihybrid Cross
A cross between two plants having two pairs of contrasting
characters is called dihybrid cross.

• Parent → Round green × Wrinkled yellow

Checker board for dihybrid square

RY Ry rY ry
RY RRYY RRYy RryY RrYy
Ry RRYy RRyy RrYy Rryy
rY RrYY RrYy rrYY rrYy
ry RrYy Rryy rrYy rryy

Round, yellow : 9
Round, green : 3
Wrinkled, yellow : 3
Wrinkled, green : 1
9:3:3:1

. Dihybrid cross in Pea plants

 · Mendel represented the round character by R and wrinkled
by r. Similarly yellow colour by Y and green by y.
· It is the cross between a homozygous pea plant with round
yellow seeds and wrinkled green seeds.
· Round yellow seeds by RRYY alleles, whereas the wrinkled
green seeds are represented by rryy. The gametes formed
from these alleles are RY and ry.
· When the two parents are crossed pollinated and seeds were
collected and sown, the got new generation is called the F1
generation. . The generation contain all round yellow seeds
(RrYy) with the dominant R allele for roundness and the
dominant Y allele for the yellow color.
· The four alleles ( R, r, Y, y )can combine in four different
combinations; RY, Ry, rY, and ry. the four alleles are assorted
randomly to produce four types of gametes.
· But when these gametes unite at random during fertilization
to produce sixteen types of individuals in the F2 generation.
· The hybrids occur in the ratio of 9 round yellow, 3 round
green, 3 wrinkled yellow, and 1 wrinkled green , in the ratio
9:3:3:1. This ratio is called dihybrid ratio.

Phenotypic Ratio

Round, yellow : 9
Round, green : 3
Wrinkled, yellow : 3
Wrinkled, green : 1
Conclusions

→ Round and yellow seeds are Dominant characters. Wrinkled and

green are recessive characters.

→ Occurrence of new phenotype combinations show that genes for

round and yellow seeds are inherited independently of each other.

How do these traits get expressed

The traits are expressed in the form of genetic character of

the organism called the genotype and the visible physical
expression of the genetic character called the phenotype.

→ Inside the cell, it is Cellular DNA which provide the information

source for making proteins .

→ gene of the protein is the section of DNA that provides

information about that protein
- The traits of a particular organism depend upon the amount of
particular hormones present .
_--> the amount of hormone produced will depend upon the
efficiency of the process of production
->Gene has the main role in making these hormones . If there is any
alteration in gene then will be variation in traits .
->In human beings , the gene for each trait is present as separate
independent pieces which are called chromosomes .
-> Each cell have two copies of each chromosomes, one each from
the male and female parents. .

→ For example Plant height can thus depend on the amount of a

particular plant hormone. The amount of the plant hormone made
will depend on the efficiency of the process for making it. If the
enzyme works well , a ;lot of hormone will produce and plant will be
tall. If the gene of that enzyme make it less efficient and amount of
hormone is less secreted ,the plant will be short. Thus gene control
the traits
Sex Determination
Determination of sex of an offspring is known as Sex Determination.

Factors responsible for Sex Determination

→ Environmental and Genetic factors are responsible for sex

determination.

• Environmental

→ In some animals, the temperature at which the fertilized eggs are

kept decides the gender. Example: Turtle

• Genetic

In some animals like humans gender or individual is determined by

a pair of chromosomes called sexchromosome.

XX – Female
XY – Male

Sex Chromosomes

→ In human beings, there are 23 pairs of chromosome.

→ Out of these 22 chromosomes pairs are called autosomes and the

last pair of chromosome 23 rd pair that help in deciding gender of
that individual is called sex chromosome.
XX – Female , XY – Male

→ This shows that half the children will be boys and half will be girls.
All children will inherit an X chromosome from their mother
regardless of whether they are boys or girls.

→ Thus, sex of children will be determined by what they inherit from

their father, and not from their mother.

Laws of Mendel
1.Mendel's law of dominance
It states that: “When parents with pure, contrasting traits are crossed
together, only one form of trait appears in the next generation. The hybrid
offsprings will exhibit only the dominant trait in the phenotype.” Law of
dominance is known as the first law of inheritance.
. Gregor Mendel, the founder of genetics, discovered this law through experiments with pea
plants. Mendel's experiments involved crossing pea plants with different characteristics,
such as tall and dwarf plants. He observed that the offspring, or F1 generation, only
displayed the dominant trait, in this case tallness.

Mendel's law of dominance is part of a set of three laws of inheritance, which also include
the law of segregation and the law of independent assortment.

3. Law of Segregation

Law of Segregation

This law states that when two traits come together in one
hybrid pair, the two characters do not mix with each
other and are independent of each other. Each gamete
receives one of the two alleles during meiosis of the
chromosome.
Mendel’s law of segregations supports the phenotypic ratio of
3:1 i.e. the homozygous dominant and heterozygous offsprings
show dominant traits while the homozygous recessive shows the
recessive trait.

4. Law of independent assortment

Law of independent assortment emphasizes that there are

separate genes for separate traits and characters and they
influence and sort themselves independently of the other
genes.

This law also says that at the time of gamete and zygote
formation, the genes are independently passed on from the
parents to the offspring.