Heredity and Evolution

● Reproductive process leads to generation of individuals of similar design.

● The traits inherited by the individuals are governed by rules of heredity.
● Children are not carbon copies of the parent - variation

Inherited traits:
● Influenced by both the parents.
● Each parent contribute equal amount of genetic material.
● Each trait has two version.
● Mendel performed experiments to work out rules of heredity.
● He used contrasting characteristics of garden pea plants.
● Used tall and short plants and produced a generation from them.
● TT * tt

T T

t Tt Tt

t Tt Tt

● All plants were tall. (Tt)

● The F1 progeny was then self pollinated
● Tt * Tt

T t

T TT tT

t Tt tt

● In the F2 progeny not all plants were tall.

● 25% were short (3:1 ratio)
● Thus each trait had two version.
● One version is dominant trait
● Other version is recessive trait
● In the presence of the dominant gene the recessive gene doesnot expressive
itself.
● Mendel cross pollinated round and green seeds and wrinkled and yellow
seeds

Ry

rY RrYy

● In the F1 progeny all seeds were round and yellow.(RrYy)

● He self pollinated the F1 progeny
●
RY Ry rY ry

RY RRYY RRYy rRYY rRyY

Ry RRYy RRyy rRyY rRyy

rY RrYY RrYy rrYY rrYy

ry RrYy Rryy rrYy rryy

● F2 progeny showed new mixtures.
● round/wrinkled trait and the yellow/green trait were separately inherited.
● Thus traits were independently inherited .

Expression of traits:
● Cellular DNA is responsible for making proteins.
● Part of the DNA - gene - is responsible for making one protein.
● Gene controls the traits.
● Each individual has 2 sets of all genes - one inherited from each parent.
● For this each germ cell (sperm and ova) has to have one set of the genes.
● Each gene set is present as separate independent pieces - chromosome
● When germ cells containing half number of chromosome combine - zygote - it
has the normal number of the chromosomes.
Sex determination:
● Different species - different strategies.
● Snail - can change sex.(not genetically determined)
● Temperature at which eggs are fertilised determine the sex of the individual.
● Humans - genetically determined.
● Genes inherited from parents determine if child will be boy or girl
● The sex chromosome is not a perfect pair, women have a perfect pair both
called X while males have a mismatched pair in which one is short called Y.
● Women are XX and men are XY
● Child inherits X chromosome from mother regardless if boy or girl and what
they inherit from father determines its sex. If it inherits X from father the child
will be a girl (XX) and if it inherits Y from the father it will be a boy (XY)
Evolution:
● It is a process of slow, continuous and irreversible changes leading to the
origin of more complex and advanced type of organisms from existing
organisms.
● All living organisms especially those reproducing sexually have the tendency
to vary.
● Accumulation of these variations over a number of generations causes
evolution.
● Variations can occur due to:
1. Mutations: sudden large inheritable changes in the genetic material caused by
natural, physical or chemical agents.
2. Genetic drift: random changes in gene frequency. This can happen due to
chance events or natural selection.
● Acquired trait: If a change is not inherited over generations it is not an
example of evolution.
● Change in non reproductive tissue cannot be passed on to the DNA of the
germ cells.
● Changes during the life span of an individual cannot be passed on to its
progeny.
● Inherited traits: If a change is inherited over generations it is an example of
evolution.
● Change in reproductive tissue can be passed on to the DNA of the germ cells.
Speciation:
● Species is a group having similar basic characteristics capable of
interbreeding.
● Genetic drift and natural selection can result in speciation if DNA changes are
severe enough.
Fossils:
● Studies of species no longer alive can be done using fossils.
● Preserved traces of living organisms are called fossils.
● Fossils closer to the surface of the earth are more recent.
● Another way of dating fossils is by detecting the ratios of different isotopesof
the same element in the fossil material.