Chapter – Heredity

IMPORTANT TERMS-
 Heredity(Hereditas- heirship or inheritance)- Is the transmission of
characters(resemblance as well as variations) from parents to offspring
or one generation to next.
 Variations – The differences in the traits shown by the individuals of a
species, and also by the offsprings(siblings) of the same parents are
referred to as variations.
 Genetics – It is the branch of biology which deals with study of heredity
and variations.
Term “genetics” was given by Bateson in 1906 while Gregor Johann
Mendel is known as the father of genetics.
 Inheritance – It is the process by which traits/characters are transferred
from one generation to the next generation. Basically it is the pattern
of heredity.
 Chromosomes- Chromosomes are thread like structures made of
protein and a single molecule of DNA that serve to carry the genetic
information from cell to cell.
 DNA(Deoxy ribonucleic acid) –The molecule inside cells that contains
the genetic information responsible for the development and function
of an organism.
 Gene – It is the particular or functional segment of DNA which controls
the inheritance of a particular trait. It is the functional unit of heredity.
 Alleles – It is the alternative form of a gene.
 OR
 One of two or more possible forms/version of a gene that are located
at the specific location on a specific chromosome.
 Eg- Length of pea plant is controlled by two contrasting forms of a gene
 T – Tallness
 t - Dwarfness
 Character & Traits- A recognizable feature of a human being or any
other organism is called character.
 Various forms of a character are called traits.
 E.g. – Eye color is a character but different forms like black eye color,
brown eye color, blue eye color etc. are traits of this character.
 Dominant trait –The trait which express itself even in the presence of
other alternative trait is known as dominant trait and allele controlling
this trait is known as dominant allele.
 Recessive trait – The trait which can not express itself in the presence
of dominant trait and cane express only when both the alleles are of
same trait is known as recessive trait. Allele controlling this trait is
known as recessive allele.
 Phenotype – It is the external appearance or observable expression of
a gene.
 Genotype - Genetic constitution of an organism.
 E.g. – TT, Tt, tt
 Homozygous condition(pure line)- Both alleles of a gene are identical.
 E.g. – TT, tt
 Heterozygous condition(Hybrid) – Both the alleles of a gene are
contrasting(different).
 E.g. - Tt
 F1 generation( first filial generation) – The first generation of offsprings
produced from parent generation.
 F2 generation(second filial generation)– The second generation of
offsprings obtained from F1 generation.
 Inherited traits - Inherited traits are the traits that are transmitted by
the parents to their offspring during the process of fertilization. For if
the parents have brown and black eyes, then the offspring may inherit
a brown or black or a combination of both.
 Acquired traits - An Acquired Trait is the personality trait that develops
in an individual as a result of external influences. These qualities are
not encoded in the DNA of a live creature and hence cannot be passed
on to subsequent generations.
 Diploid condition(2n) - A diploid condition of a cell is when it
comprises of two complete sets of chromosomes.(in somatic cells)
 Haploid condition(n) - The haploid condition of a cell is when it
comprises a single set of chromosomes. Haploid can refer to the
number of chromosomes in the sperm cells or eggs (gametes).

Accumulation of Variation During Reproduction:

● Variations do appear during reproduction whether organisms multiply
asexually or sexually.
● Heredity involves inheritance of basic body design (similarities) as well
as some changes (variations) in it, from one generation to the next
generation.
● Asexual reproduction generates very little diversity and there are minor
differences among offsprings because asexual reproduction involves
only one parent and minor variations arise due to small inaccuracies
in DNA copying.
● Sexual reproduction, on the other hand, generates greater diversity.
This is so because sexual reproduction involves two parents (father and
mother).
 ● Different offsprings receive different combinations of characters of
their parents through their gametes, they show distinct variations
among themselves as wells as from their parents.
● All the variations will accumulate slowly and pass on to generation to
generation.

Rule for the Inheritance of Traits - Mendel’s Contribution:

● Mendel was born on 22 July 1822 in Austria.
● Mendel was educated at the university of Vienna.
● In 1856-57, he started his historical experiments of heredity on pea
(Pisum sativum) plant.
● He published his work in 1866 in ‘Annual proceedings of natural history
society of Brunn’.
● After 16 years of Mendel’s death in 1900 Mendel’s postulates was
rediscovered by three scientists namely Hugo De Vries, Karl Correns
and Erich Von Tschermak. Mendel experiment remained hidden for 34
years.
● Mendel worked on the rules of inheritance & known as the father of
genetics.

Why Mendel Opted Pea for Experiment?

❖ It is easy to grow and maintain.
❖ It has short life span and therefore it was possible to study number of
generations.
❖ It has easily detectable contrasting traits of several characters. Mendel
noted 7 pairs of such contrasting traits.
❖ Flowers are bisexual and normally allows self-fertilisation but cross-
fertilisation can also be carried out by emasculation technique.
❖ It produces large no. of seeds produced.
Traits of Pea Plant Selected for Mendel’s Experiment:

Mendel’s Monohybrid Cross:

● A breeding experiment dealing with the inheritance of a single
character is called monohybrid cross.
● Mendel first selected ‘pure line’ plants (i.e. the plants that produced
similar traits generation after generation).
Mendel’s Dihybrid Cross:
 A breeding experiment dealing with the study of inheritance of two
characters at the same time is known as a dihybrid cross.

Mendel’s Findings:
On the basis of Mendel’s work, 3 basic laws of inheritance were proposed.
I. Law of Dominance
II. Law of Segregation (Law of purity of gametes)
III. Law of Independent Assortment
Law of Dominance:
❖ In crossing between organisms, pure for contrasting traits of a
character(homozygous individuals) only one trait of character appears
in the F1 generation.
❖ This character is termed as dominant while the one which does not
express itself in F1 generation is termed as recessive.
❖ Explanation – When homozygous tall pea plant are crossed with
homozygous dwarf peal plants, the plants which appear in F1
generation are tall although they have recessive allele from the dwarf
parent plant.
Law of Segregation:
❖ Allele or genes remain together and segregate at the time of gamete
formation.
❖ It means at the time of gamete formation, alleles of a gene(pair)
segregate/separate from each other so that each gamete receives only
1 allele for each gene.
❖ Thus, gametes are always pure for a particular trait.
Law of Independent Assortment:
❖ This law states that – If we consider inheritance of two or more
characters at a time then inheritance of one trait is not affected by the
other trait. This is why new combinations appeared along with parental
combinations.

How do traits get expressed?

❖ DNA is the hereditary material. It is the information source in the cell
for making proteins.
❖ The specific segment of the DNA is known as a gene.
❖ A dominant factor or allele controls the synthesis of fully functional
structural protein or enzyme which will produce its morphological or
physiological effect.
❖ On the other hand, recessive factor or allele is less efficient and does
not produce fully functional protein or enzyme, As a result, it is unable
to express itself in the presence of dominant allele in heterozygous
condition.
❖ Recessive allele express itself only in homozygous condition.
❖ E.g. Plant height (tallness and dwarfness) is controlled by genes.
❖ The amount of the plant hormone synthesized depends on the
efficiency of the process of making it.
❖ If the enzyme responsible for this process functions efficiently, the
amount of hormone produced will be high and the plant will be tall.
❖ If there is any alternation in the gene for the enzyme, making it less
efficient then the amount of hormone produced will be less and the
plant will be short or dwarf.

Sex Determination:
❖ The process by which sex/gender of a person is determined is called
sex determination.
❖ In humans it is genetically determined but in some organisms it is
determined by environmental factors.

❖ In all human beings, there are 23 pairs of chromosomes in our each

cell. Out of these 23 pairs, 22pairs `are autosomes (similar in males
and females) and 1 pair is called sex chromosome or allosomes
(different in males and females).
❖ In males sex chromosome are XY and in females sex chromosome are
XX.
❖ At the time of fertilisation, there are equal chances that an ovum will
be fertilised by a Y-bearing sperm or an X-bearing sperm. The sex
determination of a zygote is done at the time of fertilisation.
❖ So, it is clear from the above that male parent is responsible for sex
determination of a child.
❖ In some organisms, sex/gender is determined by environmental
factors.
E.g. – In turtles, lizards, Snails etc.