CHAPTER -9

HEREDITY AND EVOLUTION

GENETICS –
It is a branch of science which deal with the study
of heredity and variation.
VARIATION –
It refers to the difference in the characters [traits ]
among the individual of a species .
IMPORTANCE OF VARIATIONS
• They enable the organisms to adopt themselves in
changing environment .
• Variation form the basis of heredity .
• They form raw materials for evolution and development
of new species .
HEREDITY –
It refers to the transmission of character [ traits ]
from the parent to their offspring .
INHERITED TRAITS –
It is the transmission of particular characteristics
from parents to their offspring , generation to generation
which contain all basic features with great deal of variation.
Examples - height , skin colour , eye colour , hair , shape of
nose , lips , ears etc. Due to varied expression of genetic
traits human population shows a variety that no two
individuals are alike .
GREGOR JOHANN MENDEL [1822-1884]
He was an Austrian genetist and regarded as father
of genetics. The experiments with garden pea [ scientific
name – Pisum sativum ] and the inference together with his
interpretations constitute the foundation of modern genetics
. Mendels experiments gives us the mechanisms for the
inheritance of traits from one generation to the next .
Mendel used number of contrasting characters of garden pea
like Tall/short plants , Round/wrinkled seeds etc and
proposed three laws .
• Law of dominance
• Law of segregation
• Law of independent assortment .

1. Law of dominance –When pair of contrasting characters

combine only one is expressed [ dominant character ]
and the other remain hidden [recessive character ].
When mendel cross pollinated a pure
male tall plant with pure female dwarf plant, he got only
tall plant in F1 generation .
 Male Female

When F1 Tall plants were self pollinated mendel got

both tall and dwarf plant in F2 Generation is
approximately 3:1 or 1:2:1 ratio .The trait of dwarfness
was present in F1 Generation but it was not expressed
and only traits of tallness was expressed .The character
which get expressed is called dominant trait .The trait
which remains Unexpressed is called recessive trait .
Mendel called tall charater as dominant and Dwarf
character as recessive .
2. LAW OF SEGREGATION –
During gametogenesis [gamete formation] the pair
of hereditary factors that determine the character
chara
segregate from each other and only one factor
enters in gamete formation.
 3. LAW OF INDEPENDENT ASSORTMENT –
When two or more pairs of character combine ,
factor for each character pair segregate and assort
independently to pass to next generation .

TTRR x ttrr
Tall plant with round seed Dwarf plant with wrinkled seed
TR x tr

TtRr F1 generation
Tall plant with round seed
The F1 generation with tall plant and round seed is expressed
[ dominant ] and dwarf plant with wrinkled seed is hidden
recessive .
Self pollination of F1 generation
TtRr x TtRr
Male perent Female parent
T t R r x T t R r

TR Tr tR tr TR Tr tR tr
Male gametes Female gametes

TR Tr tR tr
TR TTRR TTRr TtRR TtRr
1 2 3 4
Tr TTRr TTrr TtRr Ttrr
5 1 6 2

tR TtRR TtRr ttRR ttRr

7 8 1 2
tr TtRr Ttrr ttRr ttrr
9 3 3 1

Tall plant with round seed – 9

Tall plant with wrinkled seed – 3
Dwarf plant with round seed - 3
Dwarf plant with wrinkled seed – 1
9:3:3:1 ratio
HOME WORK
RRyy x rrYY
Round with green seed wrinkled with yellow seed
Character Dominant Factor Recessive factor

1. Plant Height Tall [ T ] Dwarf [t]

2 . Flower or seed coat Coloured[C] White[c]

colour.

3.Flower position Axial [A] Terminal [a]

4.Seed cotyledon Yellow [Y] Green [y]

colour

5. Seed texture Round [R] Wrinkled [r]

6.Pod colour Green [G] Yellow [g]

7. Pod texture Inflated [I] Constricted [i]