HEREDITY

Class 10
TABLE OF CONTENT:
1 What is heredity?

2 What are variations?

3 Some Important Terms

4 Mendels Contribution and Experiments

5 Sex determination in human beings

WHAT IS HEREDITY?
The transfer of
characters or traits from
the parents to their off
springs is called heredity.
It means continuity of
features from one
generation to the next.
This information is
present in gametes.
 WHAT ARE VARIATIONS ?
The differences between the characters
or traits among the individuals of the
same species are called variations.
For example, human height is a trait
which shows variation. Another example
of variation in human beings involves
ears. The lowest part of the ear is called
earlobe. In most of the people, the
earlobe is ‘hanging’ and it is called free
earlobe. In some people, earlobe is
closely attached to the side of the head
and it is called attached earlobe.
 ACCUMULATION OF
VARIATIONS DURING
REPRODUCTION
When organisms reproduce, the off
springs show minor variations due to
inaccuracies in DNA copying. These
variations are less in asexual
reproduction and more in sexual
reproduction.
Some variations are useful
variations and they help the organism
to adjust to the changes in the
environment. Some variations do not
help the organism to adjust to the
changes in the environment and they
may die and become extinct
 ACCUMULATION OF
VARIATIONS DURING
REPRODUCTION
The significance of a variation shows up only if it
continues to be inherited by the offspring for several
generations.
The great advantage of variation to a species is that
it increases the chance of its survival in a changing
environment.
For example, the accumulation of ‘heat resistant’
variation (or trait) in some bacteria will ensure its
survival even when the temperature in its environment
rises too much due to a heat wave or some other reasons.
On the other hand, the bacteria which did not have this
variation to withstand heat would not survive under
these circumstances and die.
 WHERE ARE THE GENES?
This information is located inside each cell.

NUCLEUS CHROMOSOMES DNA ALPHABET

CHROMOSOMES

Inside each cell, there are 23

pairs of chromosomes.

Chromosome is a thread-like
structure in the nucleus of a
cell formed of DNA which
carries the gene.
 GENE
A gene is a unit of DNA on a
chromosome which governs the
synthesis of one protein that
controls a specific characteristic (or
trait) of an organism.

Genes are actually units of heredity

which transfer characteristics from
parents to their offspring's during
reproduction.
 GENOTYPE
Genotype is the description of genes
present in an organism. Genotype is
always a pair of letters such as TT,
Tt or tt (where T and t are the
different forms of the same gene).

PHENOTYPE
The characteristic (or trait)
which is visible in an organism is
called its phenotype.
 DOMINANT
TRAITS
The traits that express themselves in
an organism in every possible
combination and can be seen are
called Dominant traits.

RECESSIVE
TRAITS
A trait which is not expressed in the
presence of a dominant allele is
known as recessive.
F1 GENERATION
F1 generation or first filial
generation - when two parents cross
to produce progeny, then their
progeny is called first filial
generation.

F2 GENERATION
F2 generation or second filial
generation - when the first
generation progeny cross to produce
second progeny.
 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.

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.
MENDELS CONTRIBUTION
Gregor Mendel was the first scientist to make
a systematic study of patterns of inheritance
which involved the transfer of characteristics
from parents to progeny.
He did this by using different varitieties of
pea plant (Pisum sativum) which he grew in
his garden.
Mendel used a number of contrasting visible
characters of garden peas- shape of seeds (
round and wrinkled), colour of seeds ( yellow
and green), height of pea plants ( tall or
dwarf), colour of flowers ( white or violet) and
so on.
MENDELS CONTRIBUTION
 MENDEL CHOSE PEA PLANTS FOR
STUDYING INHERITANCE BECAUSE –
Pea plants had a number of clear cut
differences which were easy to identify.
Pea plants were self-pollinating which
enabled them to produce next
generation early.
Any generations of pea plants can be
produced in a comparatively short time
span and their study is much simpler
than that of animals.
RULES FOR INHERITANCE OF
CHARACTERS (TRAITS) :-

Characters are transferred through genes

present in the DNA molecules in the
chromosomes present in the nucleus of the cell.
The inheritance of characters is due to the
fact that both the father and mother
contributes equal amount of genetic material
to the child. So for each trait there are two
factors one from the father and one from the
mother.
Gregor Johann Mendel conducted
experiments with garden pea plants and
determined the rules for the inheritance of
traits.
MENDEL EXPERIMENTS
Mendel started his experiment on the pea
plants. He conducted first monohybrid and
then dihybrid crosses.

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

Law of Segregation: According to the first law

of inheritance: the characteristics (traits) of an
organism are determined by internal factors
which occurs in pairs. Only one of a pair of
such factors can be present in a single gamete
MONOHYBRID CROSS

Phenotypic Ratio - 3 : 1
3 tall : 1 dwarf
Genotypic Ratio - 1 : 2 : 1
1 pure tall : 2 hybrid tall : 1 pure
dwarf

gametes
MENDEL EXPERIMENTS
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
F1 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 F1 generation to obtain F2
generation.

He obtained four different types of seeds round yellow,

round green, wrinkled yellow and wrinkled green in the
ratio of 9 : 3 : 3 : 1. He concluded that traits are
independently inherited
DIHYBRID CROSS

Round and yellow

seeds-9.
Round and green
seeds-3.
Wrinkled and yellow
seeds-3.
Wrinkled and green
seeds-1.
 WHAT ARE
PROBABILITY CHARTS?

These are diagrams designed and used

to determine the probability that a
product will have a certain genotype.

They allow for the observation of

all possible combinations. Dominant
alleles are represented with
uppercase letters, and recessive
alleles with lowercase letters.
SEX DETERMINATION IN
HUMAN BEINGS :-
Human beings have 23 pairs of chromosomes
in the nucleus of the cell. Out of this two
chromosomes are sex chromosomes X and Y.
The female has two X chromosomes (XX) and
male has one X and one Y chromosome (XY).
The sperms and eggs have one set of sex
chromosomes. Some sperms have X
chromosome and some have Y chromosome.
All eggs have X chromosome.

If a sperm having X chromosome fuses with

an egg having X chromosome the child will be
a girl. If a sperm having Y chromosome fuses
with an egg having X chromosome the child
will be a boy.
 ACQUIRED AND INHERITED TRAITS

Acquired traits – a trait of an

Inherited trait – a trait of an
organism which is not
organism which is caused by a
inherited but develops in
change in its genes . It can be
response to the environment.
passed on to their future
It cannot be passed on to their
generations.
future generations.
VARIATIONS MAY OR MAY NOT HELP ORGANISMS TO SURVIVE
a) Some variations help organisms to survive :-
Eg :- There are some beetles living in green bushes. They increase their numbers by
reproduction. Crows can easily see the red beetles and they are eaten by the crows. During
reproduction due to some variation some green beetles are produced instead of red beetles. The
green beetles are not visible to crows and are not eaten by them. Then gradually the population of
the red beetles decreases and the population of the green beetles increases. This variation has
helped the organisms to survive.
b) Some variations do not help organisms to survive :-
Eg :- During sexual reproduction a colour variation occurs in red beetles and some blue beetles
are produced instead of red beetles. Both the red and blue beetles are visible to crows and are
eaten by them. Then the population of both red and blue beetles decreases. This variation has not
helped the organisms to survive
c) Aquired traits cannot be passed from one generation to the next :-
Eg :- If the population of beetles increases and plants are affected by diseases, then the food
available for the beetles decreases and their body weight also decreases. If after a few years the
availability of food increases then the body weight of the beetles also increases. This acquired trait
cannot be passed from one generation to the next because there is no change in their genetic
composition.
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