Biology

HEREDITY
Introduction
Heredity is the passing of characters from parents to offsprings or from one generation to next.
Genetics is a branch of biology which deals with the study of heredity and variation.
Unit of heredity which transfers characters from parents to their offsprings during reproduction is called
gene. Gene Protein synthesis Enzymes [Controls phenotype of a character]
In asexually reproducing organisms, variation are very little (brought only because of small changes created
in DNA at the time of their replication).
Sexually reproducing organisms show great variation as compared to asexually reproducing organisms,
because of involvement of two parents.
Gregor Johann Mendel
Mendel was an Austrian monk and scientist who first worked on heredity experiments and gave theory in
1866 but people of that time couldn't understand him and rejected his theory. Later in 1900 three different

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scientists from 3 different places also found the same result.
They were Hugo deVries, Tschermark and Corrence. They rediscovered the theory of heredity proposed by
Mendel. So Mendel is called father of genetics.

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Mendelian experiments : In 1856-57, he started his historical experiments of heredity on pea (Pisum
sativum) plant. His experimental work continued on pea plant till 1865 (19th century).
Advantage of Pisum sativum : Pisum sativum is a unique plant selected by Mendel for his experiments which

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had following importance :
Property Advantages of properties.

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a. Short life cycle Results of experiments were
obtained in less time.
b. Could be grown More experiments can be done
throughout year in a year.

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c. Choice of cross or Mendel could conduct
self fertilization experiment as per his desire.
d. 7 pairs of allelic Large number of choice for
characters experiments.
e. Large number of Good number of data for
offsprings statistical analysis.
Alternative forms of a gene which are located on same position [loci] on the homologous chromosome are
called alleles.
Pairs of allelic characters found in garden pea plant
Properties Dom inant Recessive
1 Height Tall Dwarf
2 Colour of seed Yellow Green
3 Colour of p od Green Yellow
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4 Colour of flower Purple White

5 Shap e of seed Round Wrinkled
6 Shap e of pod Inflated Constricted
7 Position of flower Axial Terminal
Terminology Used
Factor : A particle or unit in the organism which is responsible for the inheritance and expression of a particular
character.
Gene : Mendel's factor is now known as gene. A gene is a particular segment of a DNA molecule which
determines the inheritance and expression of a particular character.

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Alleles or Allelomorphs : Two or more alternative forms of a gene are called alleles or allelomorphs. For
example in pea, the gene for producing seed shape may occur in two alternative forms: round (R) and wrinkled
(r). Round and wrinkled forms of the gene are alleles of each other. Alleles occupy same locus on homologous
chromosomes.
Dominant : Of the two alternating forms (allomorphs) of a trait, the one which appears in the F1 hybrid is
called the dominant trait (Dominant Allele).
Recessive : Of the two alternating allomorphs of a trait, one which is suppressed (does not appear) in the F1
hybrid is called the recessive trait (recessive allele).
Genotype : The genetic make-up or genic constitution of an individual (which he/she inherits from the parents)
is called the genotype, e.g., the genotype of pure round seeded parent will be RR.
Phenotype : The external (morphological) appearance of an individual for any trait or traits is called the
phenotype, e.g. for seeds, round shape or wrinkled shape is the phenotype.
Homozygous : An individual possessing (receiving from parents) identical alleles for a trait is said to be
homozygous or pure for that trait, e.g. plant with RR alleles is homozygous for the seed shape. A homozygous

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always breeds true for that trait.
Heterozygous : An individual receiving dissimilar alleles for a trait is said to be heterozygous or impure for

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that trait, e.g. a plant with Rr alleles is heterozygous for the seed shape. Heterozygous is also called a hybrid.
Parent generations : The parents used for the first cross represent the parent (or P1) generation.

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F1 generation : The progeny produced from a cross between two parents (P1) is called First Filial or F1
generation.
Inbreeding : When the individuals of a progeny (e.g. F1 generation) are allowed to cross with each other, it

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is called inbreeding.
F2 generation : The progeny resulting from self hybridization or inbreeding of F1 individuals is called Second
Filial or F2 generation.

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Monohybrid cross : The cross between two parents differing in a single pair of contrasting characters is
called monohybrid cross and the F1offspring as the hybrid(heterozygous for one trait only).
Monohybrid ratio : The phenotypic ratio of 3 dominants : 1 recessive obtained in the F2 generation from
the monohybrid cross is called monohybrid ratio.
Dihybrid cross : The cross between two parents in which two pairs of contrasting characters are studied
simultaneously for the inheritance pattern. The F1 offspring is described as dihybrid or double heterozygous
(i.e. with dissimilar alleles for two characters).
Trihybrid Cross : The mating of two individuals, organisms, or strains that have different gene pairs that
determine three specific traits or in which three particular characteristics or gene loci are being followed.
Polyhybrid Cross : When we cross more than one trait (usually more than 2 also, as 2 traits are a dihybrid
cross), it is called polyhybrid cross.
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Test Cross : A cross between an individual exhibiting the dominant phenotype of a trait and an individual
that is homozygous recessive for that trait in order to determine the genotype of the dominant individual.
Back Cross : To cross (a hybrid) with one of its parents or with an individual genetically identical to one of
its parents is called back cross.
Reciprocal Cross : A reciprocal cross is a breeding experiment designed to test the role of parental sex on
a given inheritance pattern. All parent organisms must be true breeding to properly carry out such an
experiment. In such type of cross ‘A’ plant (TT) is used as male and ‘B’ plant (tt) used as female and in the
other cross ‘A’ plant (TT) is used as female and ‘B’ (tt) plant is used as male.

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Monohybrid cross : It is a cross in which only one character is studied at a time.
In his first monohybrid cross, Mendel crossed a pure breed tall plant and a pure breed dwarf plant.
And he found that in F1 generation (first filial generation) only tall plant were born out of these seeds, no
intermediate character or mixing or blending was observed by him. Mendel termed tall plants as dominant
and dwarf plant as recessive.
When F1 plants are grown and allowed to self pollinate he got many seeds and when they are grown he
found that the offsprings produced were in the ratio of 3 : 1 i.e. 3 tall and 1 dwarf.
The dwarfness which was not visible in F1 generation reappeared in F2 generation.
Monohybrid cross : It is a cross in which only one character is studied at a time.
In his first monohybrid cross, Mendel crossed a pure breed tall plant and a pure breed dwarf plant.
And he found that in F1 generation (first filial generation) only tall plant were born out of these seeds, no
intermediate character or mixing or blending was observed by him. Mendel termed tall plants as dominant
and dwarf plant as recessive.

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When F1 plants are grown and allowed to self pollinate he got many seeds and when they are grown he
found that the offsprings produced were in the ratio of 3 : 1 i.e. 3 tall and 1 dwarf.
The dwarfness which was not visible in F1 generation reappeared in F2 generation.

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Mendel's postulates
To explain the experiment he said that each character is controlled by a pair of factor.

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During gamete formation, the paired factors got segregated and moved to different gametes.
When these gametes fused together they used to restore paired state again.

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In homozygous condition two factors of a character are same (TT). In hybrid /heterozygous condition, two
factors of a character are different (Tt).
In heterozygous conditions only one factor shows its character it is called dominant and other which does

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not show its character is called recessive.
The genetic constitution of an organism is called genotype. Genotype can also be defined as description
of genes present in an organism e.g. TT, tt, Tt. External and morphological appearance of an organism for a
particular character is called Phenotype.

TT tt
Parents
Pure Tall Pure Dwarf

Gametes T T t t

Cross breeding

F1 Generation Tt
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Hybrid Tall
Self pollination
Gametes T t

+ T t

F2 Generation T TT Tt Pure Tall 1 Phenotypic ratio

Pure Tall Hybrid Tall 3 Tall : 1 Dwarf
tt Hybrid Tall 2 Genotypic Ratio
Tt
t Pure Dwarf 1 1 Pure Tall : 2 Hybrid Tall : 1
Hybrid Tall Pure Dwarf
Pure Dwarf
Monohybrid cross

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Di-hybrid cross
A cross in which 2 characters are simultaneously studied.
In Mendel's first di-hybrid cross, he took a plant with Yellow and Round seeds and another plant with
Green and Wrinkled seeds.
F1 generation – All plants with yellow and round seeds.
It means yellow and round seed characters are dominant over green and wrinkled seeds.
In F2 generation he allowed these plant produced from F1 seeds to self pollinate and he expected same
3 : 1 ratio.
But to his surprise the phenotypic ratio was all new 9 : 3 : 3 : 1 in which beside 2 parental varieties,
2 new varieties were also produced. So, the ratio was 9 yellow and round ; 3 yellow and wrinkled ; 3
green and round ; 1 green and wrinkled. This could be explained only when beside the parental combination
of factors (YR) and (yr), two new combinations of factors are also produced as follows (Yr) and (yR).
Genotypic ratio for F2 generation was- 1 : 2 : 1 : 2 : 4 : 2 : 1 : 2 : 1

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Round & Yellow seeds Wrinkled & Green seeds
RRYY rryy

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RY ry
Gametes
RrYy × RrYy

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F1 Generation
RY Ry rY ry

Dihybrid cross

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RY Ry rY ry
+

RRYY RRYy RrYY RrYy

RY
Round Yellow Round Yellow Round Yellow Round Yellow
RRYy RRyy RrYy Rryy
Ry
Round Yellow Round Green Round Yellow Round Green
RrYY RrYy rrYY rrYy
rY
Round Yellow Round Yellow Wrinkled Yellow Wrinkled Yellow
RrYy Rryy rrYy rryy
ry
Round Yellow Round Green Wrinkled Yellow Wrinkled Green
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Law of inheritance
Law of Dominance
Law of Segregation
Law of Independent Assortment
Law of dominance : In crossing between organisms pure for contrasting characters of a pair, only one
character of the pair appears in the F1 generation. This character is termed dominant while the one which
does not express itself in F1 generation is termed recessive.

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Law of segregation : Allele or genes remain together and segregate at the time of gamete formation. This
means that the alleles do not mix in the hybrids [Non-mixing of alleles].
This is also known as the Law of purity of gametes.
Law of independent assortment : This law states that when individuals differing in two or more than two
pairs of contrasting characters are crossed, the inheritance of any one pair is not affected by the presence of
the other.
e.g. The inheritance of tall character is not related to the dwarf character of the seed. Rather, the two
characters are inherited which are independent of each other.
Co-dominance and multiple allelism
ABO is controlled by more than one allele so it is the example of multiple allelism. In those individuals where IAIB
both alleles come together, both shows its expression so this is called co-dominance.
How blood Groups are Inherited
Human population has 4 blood groups : A, B, AB and O. These are determined by the presence of a specific

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glycoprotein substance, on the surface of RBCs called antigen.
Person with blood group A will have antigen A.

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Person with blood group B will have antigen B.
Person with blood group AB will have antigen A and B.

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Person with blood group O does not have any antigen.
There are four phenotypes A, B, AB and O controlled by a set of three allelic genes, IA, IB and IO. The inheritance
of these blood groups is common in all human beings. Gene IA and IB both are dominant over IO, and codominant

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to each other. Gene I A codes for synthesis of antigen A, gene I B codes for antigen B, and
gene IO being recessive, codes for no antigen.
A person can naturally inherit any two of the three allelic genes. Therefore, six kinds of genotypic combinations

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and four types of phenotypes are possible as shown below :

IAIA Blood group A

A O
II

IBIB Blood group B

B O
II
IAIB Blood group AB
O O
II Blood group O
Inheritance of blood groups : The gene A and B are dominant over O but are codominant to each other
and hence both are expressed when present together.
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If a person homozygous for blood group A marries a woman with blood group O or vice versa, all their
children will have blood group A.

Blood group A × Blood Group O

A A
II IOIO

IAIO
All offsprings are heterozygous
for blood group A

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If a person homozygous for blood group B marries a woman with blood group O or vice versa, all children
will have blood group B.

Blood group B × Blood Group O

O O
II
B B II

B O
II
Blood group B
B
I
B
I
IO All offsprings are
IBIO IBIO heterozygous for
O
I B O
II
B O
II blood group B

If a person homozygous for blood group A marries a woman homozygous for blood group B, all their
children will have blood group AB.

Blood group A × Blood Group B

IBIB

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II
A A

A B
II
Blood group AB

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IA IA
IB A B A B All the offsprings
II II have AB blood
IB A B
II A B
II

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group

If a man homozygous for blood group A marries a woman heterozygous for blood group B, their children

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may be of the following four types.

Blood group A × Blood Group B

II
A A IBIO

A
IAIB IAIO IBIA IAIO
Blood Blood Blood Blood
group group group group
IB IO
A
I II
A B
IA IO 50% – AB group
IA IAIB IA IO 50% – AO group

If a man with blood group AB is married to a woman with blood group AB. The offspring may be A, B or AB.

Blood group AB × Blood Group AB

II
A B IAIB
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IAIA IAIB IAIB IBIB

Blood Blood Blood Blood
group A group AB group AB group B
IA IB
A 25% – AA group
I IAIA IAIB 50% – AB group
IB IAIB IBIB 25% – BB group

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Sex determination
It is the phenomena of determination of sex of an offspring.
Factors responsible for sex determination
Environmental : In some animals the temperature at which the fertilised eggs are kept decides the gender.
e.g. in turtle.
Genetic : In some animals, like humans, gender of individual is determined by a pair of chromosome called
sex chromosome XX Female and XY male.
Sex determination in humans
During gamete formation the male produce two types of gametes i.e. one having X chromosome and other
having Y chromosome while both gametes produced by females are alike i.e. each having X chromosome.
When X chromosome of male fuses to X chromosome of female, girl child is born.
When Y chromosome of male fuses to X chromosome of female, boy child is born.

Two important things to be noticed here are

Birth of male and female child has equal %, because X and Y chromosomes are produced in equal

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number and it all depends either sperm with X or Y chromosome fuses with egg containing X chromosome.
Birth of male and female child depends on Y or X chromosomes of male, female always produce X

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chromosomes, so have no significant role in sex determination of offspring.

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Male O O
Female +
44 + XY 44 + XX

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22 + X 22 + Y 22 + X 22 + X

A
44 + XX 44 + XX 44 + XY 44 + XY
O
+ children O children
Sex determination
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HEREDITY EXERCISE
1. The physical appearance of an individual is known as 7. One of the following is correct statement
(1) Heterotype (2) Genotype (1) Recessive trait can only be expressed in
homozygous condition.
(3) Morphotype (4) Phenotype
(2) Recessive trait is always expressed in
2. The idea that different pairs of alleles are passed
heterozygous condition.
to offspring independently is Mendel's principle of
(3) Dominant trait is expressed only in homozygous
(1) Dominance
condition.
(2) Segregation
(4) Dominant trait can not be expressed in
(3) Independent assortment heterozygous conditions.
(4) Codominance 8. In pea plants, yellow seeds are dominant to green.
3. According to Mendel, each gamete carries only one If heterozygous yellow seeded plant is crosed with
factor or allele either dominant or recessive. This is called a green seeded plant, what ratio of yellow and

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green seeded plants would you expect in F1
(1) The law of purity of gamete generation?
(2) The law of segregation

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(1) 9 : 1 (2) 1 : 3
(3) The principle of dominance (3) 3 : 1 (4) 50 : 50

(4) Both (1) and (2) 9. In the F2 generation of a Mendelian dihybrid cross

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the number of phenotypes and genotypes are
4. When F1 plants heterozygous for tallness are selfed,
F2 generation has both tall and dwarf plants. This (1) Phenotypes-4 ; genotypes-16

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proves the principle of (2) Phenotypes-9 ; genotypes-4
(1) Dominance
(3) Phenotypes-4 ; genotypes-8
(2) Blended inheritance

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(4) Phenotypes-4 ; genotypes-9
(3) Segregation
10. Which genotype represents a true dihybrid condition?
(4) Independent assortment
(1) TtRr (2) ttrr (3) Ttrr (4) TtRR
5. In a plant, red fruit (R) is dominant over yellow fruit
11. When a gene exists in more than one form, the
(r) and tallness (T) is dominant over shortness (t). different forms are termed
If a plant with RRTt genotype is crossed with a plant
that is rrtt. (1) Alleles (2) Heterozygotes

(1) 50% will be tall with red fruit (3) Genotypes (4) Complementary genes

(2) 75% will be tall with red fruit
(3) All the offspring will be tall with red fruit
12. Mother and father of a person with 'O' blood group
have 'A' and 'B' blood group respectively. What would
be the genotype of both mother and father?
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(4) 25% will be tall with red fruit
6. Heterozygous purple flower is crossed with recessive
white flower. The progeny has the ratio
(1) 75% purple and 25% white
(1) Mother is homozygous for 'A' blood group and
father is heterozygous for 'B'.
(2) Mother is heterozygous for 'A' blood group and
father is homozygous for 'B'.

(2) 50% purple and 50% white (3) Both mother and father are heterozygous for
'A' and 'B' blood group, respectively.
(3) All purple
(4) Both mother and father are homozygous for 'A'
(4) All white
and 'B' blood group, respectively.

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13. A person with unknown blood group under ABO 15. Which one of the following conditions of the zygote
system, has suffered much blood loss in an accident would lead to the birth of a normal human female
and needs immediate blood transfusion. His friend child?
who has valid certificate of his own blood type, offers
(1) Two X chromosomes
for blood donation without delay. What would have
been the type of blood group of the donor friend? (2) Only one Y chromosome

(1) Type B (2) Type AB (3) Only one X chromosome

(3) Type O (4) Type A (4) One X and one Y chromosome
14. Mother is homozygous B, and father is heterozygous
A. What will be the possible blood group in their
progeny?
(1) AB & B (2) AB & A
(3) A and B (4) O

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A
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ANSWER KEY
Que. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
Ans. 4 3 4 3 1 2 1 4 4 1 1 3 3 1 1