PATTERNS

OF
INHERITANCE
Desired Learning Outcomes
• DEFINE and be able to use the following terms
correctly: genotype, phenotype, homozygous,
heterozygous, alleles and genes.
• DISCUSS the Mendelian model of inheritance.
• DESCRIBE patterns of inheritance (e.g. sex
linkage, dominant, recessive, codominant and
incomplete dominant.)

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1. GENETIC Terms
The Get-to-Know Portion
 “
Most people who send out birth
announcements mention the sex
of the baby, but they don’t feel
the need to specify that their
offspring is a human being
-Campbell’s Biology 9th Edition

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GENETICS
● Genetics is the scientific study of heredity
and hereditary variation.
● of how certain qualities or traits are passed
from parents to offspring as a result of
changes in DNA sequence
● Understanding genetic factors and genetic
disorders is important in learning more about
promoting health and preventing disease.

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HEREDITY
● The transmission of traits from one
generation to the next is called inheritance,
or heredity (from the Latin heres, heir).
● Heredity refers to specific mechanisms by
which characteristics or traits are passed
from one generation to the next via genes.
● heredity, the sum of all biological processes
by which particular characteristics are
transmitted from parents to their offspring
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VARIATION
● Genetic variation is the presence of
differences in sequences of genes between
individual organisms of a species.
● It enables natural selection, one of the
primary forces driving the evolution of life.
● Variations arise due to mutation,
recombination at the time of gamete
formation or due to environmental factors.

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PHENOTYPE vs GENOTYPE
● A phenotype is an individual's observable
traits, such as height, eye color, and blood
type. The genetic contribution to the
phenotype is called the genotype.
● An organism's genotype is its specific
combination of alleles for a given gene. The
phenotype is the physical manifestation of
an organism's allellic combination.

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PHENOTYPE vs GENOTYPE
● Example: Eye Color
● For this example the dominant eye color
trait is Brown (B) and the recessive trait is
Blue (b). If the allelic combination is
Heterozygous Dominant then the Genotype
will be expressed as (Bb) while the
Phenotype is manifested as simply Brown.
● The same goes for the genotype for
homozygous recessive (bb) with a
Phenotype of Blue. 9
ALLELES
● An allele is one of two or more versions of
a gene. An individual inherits two alleles for
each gene, one from each parent.
● Examples: Eye Color Phenotype
● Blue Eyes
● Green Eyes
● Brown Eyes
● Gray Eyes
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GENES
● Gene is defined as a section of DNA that
encodes for a certain trait.
● Examples: Specific Traits
● Eye Color
● Hair Color
● Skin Pigmentation

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HOMOZYGOUS (Alleles)
● Homozygous is a genetic condition
where an individual inherits the same alleles
for a particular gene from both parents.
● Example: Blood Type
● Homozygous Blood Type A may refer to a
genotype of (AA).
● Homozygous Blood Type B may refer to a
genotype of (BB)

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HETEROZYGOUS (Alleles)
● The presence of two different alleles at a
particular gene locus.
● Example: Hair Color and Eye Color
● Heterozygous alleles for Ginger Hair color
may refer to a genotype of (Gg).
● Heterozygous alleles for Brown Eye Color
may refer to a genotype of (Bb)

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2. TRAITS
“It’s in the blood”
 TRAITS
Can be either dominant or recessive.
However, both still play a big role in
inheritance.

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 DOMINANT vs RECESSIVE
Dominant Trait Recessive Trait
In genetics, dominance is Refers to a trait that is
the phenomenon of one expressed only when
variant of a gene on a genotype is homozygous;
chromosome masking or a trait that tends to be
overriding the effect of a masked by other inherited
different variant of the traits, yet persists in a
same gene on the other population among
copy of the chromosome. heterozygous genotypes..

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Examples of Dominant Traits
● Dark hair is dominant over blonde or red hair.
● Curly hair is dominant over straight hair.
● Baldness is a dominant trait.
● Having a widow's peak (a V-shaped hairline) is
dominant over having a straight hairline.
● Brown eyes are dominant over blue eyes.
● Freckles, cleft chin and dimples are all
examples of a dominant trait.
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Examples of Recessive Traits
● Attached earlobes.
● Type O Blood.
● Hitch-hiker's thumb. Very flexible thumb.
● Blue eyes.
● Albinism: an albino lacks pigment or coloration
in the skin.
● Sickle cell anemia: abnormal red blood cells
make it difficult to transport oxygen throughout
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the body.
3. PATTERNS
Of Inheritance
Sex-Linkage
● Sex linkage applies to genes that are
located on the sex chromosomes. These
genes are considered sex-linked because
their expression and inheritance patterns
differ between males and females.
● Example: Calico cats are predominantly
female because they're coloring is related
to the X chromosome.

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 The Calico Cat
● Two X chromosomes are needed for a cat to
have that distinctive tri-color coat. If a cat has
an XX pair, she will be female. Male cats have
an XY chromosome pair, so they can't be
Calicos.
● Because male cats have one X chromosome
with code for black or orange and one Y
chromosome without any color genes, they
cannot technically be calico. They'll only
express either black or orange, but not both.
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CODOMINANCE
● Codominance develops when there are two
versions (alleles) of the same gene in a
living being and both are expressed. Instead
of being dominant on one trait over the
other, both traits occur.
● Example: Blood Type AB Blood Type AB is an
example of codominance.
● A Roan Horse whose coat color is due to
codominance
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INCOMPLETE DOMINANCE
● Incomplete dominance results from a cross
in which each parental contribution is
genetically unique and gives rise to progeny
whose phenotype is intermediate.
● Incomplete dominance is also referred to as
semi-dominance and partial dominance.
● Examples: Pink Flowers that arise from Red
and White Parent Flowers.

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THANK YOU FOR LISTENING
Tune in for Part 2

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