Introduction to Genetics
and Inheritance
MEDC0001 – Tutorial
Dr Johanna Donovan
Learning Objectives
4. Understand the basic principles of genetic inheritance and
use it to explain patterns of inherited human disease
• Define Mendel’s laws of inheritance and use these to explain simple
inheritance patterns
• Define and distinguish between the key terms commonly used in
describing genetics and inheritance
• Explain the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium and calculate its values for a
hypothetical population
• Understand patterns of human inheritance in health and disease and apply
these to punnet square and pedigree diagrams
Problem 1 – Dihybrid Cross
Dr Donovan has discovered a new rare type of beetle. The beetles can be either
blue (B) and have wings (W) or black (b) and wingless (w). After crossing the
BW and bw types, all the resultant F1 beetles were blue and winged. The genes
are not linked
Complete a punnet square for a crossing of two F1 types.
What % of the resultant offspring will be black and have wings?
Dr Donovan has discovered a rare new type beetle. The beetles can be either blue (B) and have wings (W)
or black (b) and wingless (w). After crossing the BW and bw types, all the resultant F1 beetles were blue
and winged. The genes are not linked
Complete a punnet square for a crossing of two F1 types.
What % of the resultant offspring will be black and have wings?
Start by filling out the table to complete the cross
Pedigree Diagrams
• A pedigree chart is a diagram that shows the occurrence and phenotypes of a
particular gene or organism and its ancestors from one generation to the next
• In science they are often used to investigate genetic components of diseases
Problem 2 – Interpreting Pedigree Diagrams
Autosomal Dominant
The diagram shows the inheritance of
freckles in a family. The allele for freckles (F)
is dominant to the allele for no freckles (f).
What is the genotype of individual II-2?
What type of inheritance pattern is this?
Why..?
What type of inheritance pattern is this?
Why?
Common mistakes in pedigrees
• The presence of many affected individuals in a family does not always mean that
the trait is dominant.
The terms dominant and recessive refer to the way that a trait is expressed, not by how
often it shows up in a family. In fact, although it is uncommon, a trait may be recessive but
still show up in all generations of a pedigree.
• You may not always be able to determine the genotype of an individual based on a
pedigree.
Sometimes an individual can either be homozygous dominant or heterozygous for a trait.
Often, we can use the relationships between an individual and their parents, siblings, and
offspring to determine genotypes. However, not all carriers are always explicitly indicated in
a pedigree, and it may not be possible to determine based on the information provided.
Problem 3 - Hardy-Weinberg Calculation
Dr Donovan is studying her pea plants. The alleles for flower colour are either
purple (P) or white (p). She notes that 49/100 plants are white.
a. Using the Hardy Weinberg equation calculate the allele frequency.
b. What % of plants are heterozygous?