Genetics and Inheritance
•Genetics refers to the study of heredity and the variations of
these inherited characteristics.
• The study of genetics helps us understand genetic diseases and
therefore helps us to find a cure.
•Heredity refers to the transfer of characteristics from parents to
offspring.
• The transfer of hair colour from mother to daughter is called heredity.
• The set of characteristics that have been transferred from parent to
offspring is referred to as inheritance.
•Inheritance refers to the set of characteristics that have been
transferred from parent to offspring
• Homologous pair
• During meiosis I chromosomes align themselves in homologous pairs.
• Remember that human somatic cells have 23 pairs of chromosomes.
• One set of 23 is of paternal origin and the other set of 23 is of maternal
chromosomes.
• This means one set from the mother and the other from the father.
• This makes them diploid
• A pair of chromosomes, that are identical in shape and structure, one from
the mother and the other from the father is referred to as
homologous chromosomes.
• Therefore homologous pair refers to a pair of identical chromosomes, 1 of
paternal origin and 1 of maternal origin.
•Chromosomes in gametes
• Sex cells only have 23 single chromosomes.
• Therefore they are haploid.
• This means that each sperm cell will only have 23 chromosomes and…
• Each egg cell will only have 23 chromosomes.
• Gametes have a haploid number of chromosomes for 2 reasons.
These are…
1. They are formed by meiosis
2. During anaphase 1 the homologous chromosomes separate and
move into different cells.
•Genes
• A gene is a short portion of DNA at a particular location on the
chromosome.
• Genes carry the hereditary information.
• This means that a chromosome is made up of a number of genes.
• The position that the gene occupies on a chromosome is called its
locus.
• The gene for eye colour is found on a particular locus on a particular
chromosome.
• For example the gene for curly or straight hair is found at a particular
spot on chromosome number 17.
• Diploid cells will have 2 copies of a gene for a particular characteristic.
• WHY?????
• This is because diploid cells have homologous chromosomes.
• Therefore there will be 2 copies of chromosome number 17.
• Genes can control structural and physiological characteristics.
• Structural characteristics are things like eye colour, hair colour and
height, while
• Physiological characteristics refers to the way body works, like the
rate of metabolism, the predisposition to certain diseases and
disorders.
• The inheritance of characteristics that are controlled by only one
gene at a single locus on the chromosome is called monogenic
inheritance.
• Some characteristics like eye colour and size of earlobes are
controlled by one gene only and is referred to as a monogenic
inheritance.
• The inheritance of characteristics that are controlled by more than
one gene at more than one loci on one or more chromosomes is
called polygenic inheritance.
• Skin colour, height and weight in humans are examples of polygenic
inheritance.
•Phenotype and genotype
• Phenotype refers to the external or physical appearance of the organism.
• Genotype refers to the genetic composition of an organism.
• The genotype determines the phenotype.
•Alleles
• Alleles are the alternative form of a gene found at the same locus.
• For example eye colour may be controlled by a single gene.
• The length of DNA making up this gene may code for blue or brown eye
colour.
• This means that maybe alternative forms of the same gene, for example for
eye colour there may be a gene for blue or brown eye colour.
• This means that eye colour is controlled by 1 gene with 2 alleles.
• That is an allele for blue eye colour and an allele for brown eye colour.
A diploid organism may have the following combinations of alleles.
a. 2 alleles for blue eye colour or
b. 2 alleles for brown eye colour or
c. 1 allele for brown eye colour and 1 allele for blue eye colour.
• Gametes have only 1 gene for each characteristic.
• The alleles for hair colour can be brown or blond.
• Can you explain why???
Because…
• Gametes are formed from meiosis, therefore the allele for each
characteristic separate during anaphase 2.
•Dominant and recessive
• There 3 different ways in which alleles may interact with each other.
• These are…
1. Complete dominance
2. Incomplete dominance
3. Co-dominance
• Dominant refers to a gene whose characteristic shows up in
homozygous or heterozygous condition
• Recessive refers to alleles whose characteristic will only show up in
the homozygous conditions
• In complete dominance one allele is completely dominant over
the other.
• The characteristic controlled by this allele will show up in the organism.
• While the other allele is masked.
• The allele that shows up is called dominant.
• Brown eye colour is an example of a dominant characteristic.
• The other one that is masked, this means it does not show up in the
organism, is recessive.
• Blue eye colour is an example of a recessive characteristic controlled by a
recessive allele.
• When an organism has a dominant and recessive allele for a characteristic
only the dominant allele shows up while the recessive allele is masked.
• The recessive characteristic only shows up in the organism when that
organism has 2 recessive alleles for a characteristic.
•Homozygous and heterozygous
• Homozygous is when an organism has 2 copies of the same allele for a
certain characteristic.
• Homozygous can also be called pure breeding or true breeding.
• If an organisms has 2 opposing alleles for the same characteristic the
organism is said to be heterozygous.
• Heterozygous can also be called hybrid.
•Genome
• The genome refers to a complete set of all the genes in all the
chromosomes of a particular species.