HEREDITY

1.Define:

(i) Heredity- The process by which the features of an organism are passed on from one
generation to another is called heredity. The process is done by genes, which define the
characters in the organism.

(ii) Allele- A pair of genes that control two alternative expressions of the same
character.

(iii) Dominant allele - The allele that expresses itself in the presence of its contrasting
allele, in an organism, and can be seen, is known as Dominant allele.

(iv) Recessive allele- The allele that fails to expresses itself in the presence of its
contrasting dominant allele, in an organism, and can be seen only when present in
homozygous condition, is known as recessive allele.

(v) Genes- Genes are sections or segments of DNA that are carried on the
chromosomes and determine specific human characteristics, such as height or hair
color and control the expression of a character.

(vi) Homozygous alleles- When two alleles of a character are similar, they are called
homozygous alleles. Eg. T T or tt.

(vii) Heterozygous alleles- When two alleles of a character are dissimilar, they are
called heterozygous alleles. Eg. T t.

(viii) Phenotype- It is the physical expression of a trait that is genetically controlled. Eg.
Tall plant of dwarf plant.

(ix) Genotype- It is the genetic makeup of an organism or trait. Eg. TT – Homozygous

tall. Tt – Heterozygous tall

(x) Traits- Traits are characteristic features of an organism, manifested in a physical

form that is visible or in a physiological aspect of the organism.
2. Why did Mendel choose pea plant (Pisum sativum) for his experiment?

(i) Very easy to cultivate and grow

(ii) It is an annual plant and has a short life span

(iii) Both self and cross pollination was possible.

(iv) Showed many visible pairs of contrasting characters

(v) It produced a large number of offsprings and the offsprings obtained by cross
pollination were also fertile

3. What were the seven pairs of contrasting characters studies by Mendel?

Dominant Traits

Recessive Traits

4. State the three laws of inheritance.

(i) LAW OF DOMINANCE- When parents with pure, contrasting traits are crossed
together, only one form of trait appears in the next generation. The hybrid offsprings will
exhibit only the dominant trait in the phenotype. The trait that is not expressed or is
suppressed due to the presence of dominant trait is called recessive trait.

(ii) LAW OF SEGREGATION-(Also called law of purity of gametes)- Two members of a

pair of characters separate during the formation of gametes

(iii) LAW OF INDEPENDENT ASSORTMENT- When there are two pairs of contrasting
characters, the distribution of members of one pair into the gametes is independent of
the distribution of the other pair.

5. What is a monohybrid and a dihybrid cross?

Monohybrid cross

 When only one character is considered while crossing two organisms, then such
a cross is known as monohybrid cross.
  The ratio of characters, arising out of this cross, at F2 generation is called
monohybrid ratio.
 E.g., If tall plant (TT) is crossed with a dwarf plant (tt), we get 3 tall:1 short plant
at the end of the F2 generation.
 So, 3:1 is monohybrid ratio.
 Here, the height of the plant is considered at a time.

Dihybrid cross

 When two characters are considered while crossing two organisms, then such a
cross is known as a dihybrid cross.
 The ratio of characters, arising out of this cross, at F2 generation is called
dihybrid ratio.
 E.g., If a plant with round and yellow pea is crossed with a plant with wrinkled
and green pea,
 The first generation plants would all have round and yellow pea.
 On crossing the same for an F2 generation, we would observe four combinations
of characters in the ratio of 9:3:3:1.
 Thus, 9:3:3:1 is the dihybrid ratio.

6. How do genes control the characteristics such as height of a plant?

A gene is the section of DNA on a chromosome that codes the formation of a
protein controlling a specific characteristic of the organism. The gene for tallness will
give instructions to the plant cells to generate more plant-growth hormones due to
which the plant will grow tall. If the plant has the gene for dwarfness, then the plant
hormone will be produced in less amount, due to which the plant will be short.
The amount of plant hormone made will depend on the efficiency of the enzyme
produced by the gene. If the enzyme works efficiently, then lot of growth hormone will
be made and the plant will be tall. If the gene for that enzyme has an alteration, that
makes the enzyme less efficient, the amount of hormone will be less and the plant will
be short.

More efficiency of enzyme

More
1
Gene production e Tall plant
Enzyme Growth
Hormone
(DNA Fragment) 2
Less
Less efficiency of enzyme production Short plant
EXPRESSION OF TRAIT
7. How is the sex of a child determined in human beings?

 The process of determining the sex of an individual, based on the composition of

the genetic material is called sex determination.
 The chromosomes that determine the sex of a person I are called sex
chromosomes.
 In humans, there are two types of sex chromosomes – X and Y
 Male individuals have dissimilar sex chromosomes , normal sized X chromosome
and a short Y chromosome.
 Female individuals have two similar sex chromosomes X and X
 An ovum always contains X chromosome.
 If the sperm carrying X- chromosome fuses with the ovum carrying X -
chromosome, the child will be female.
 If the sperm carrying Y- chromosome fuses with the ovum carrying X-
chromosome, the child will be male.
 All children will inherit an X- chromosome from their mother regardless of
whether they are boys or girls.

8. How is blood group determined in a humans?

 A person has one of the four blood groups- A, B, AB and O

  This blood group system is controlled by a gene which has three different forms
denoted by IA, IB and Io
 The genes IA and IB shows co-dominance
 The genes IA and IB are dominant over the gene Io
 If the genotype is IA IA, then the blood group of the person will be A type
 If the genotype is IA IO, then the blood group of the person will be A type
 If the genotype is IB IB, then the blood group of the person will be B type
 If the genotype is IB IO, then the blood group of the person will be B type
 If the genotype is IA IB, then the blood group of the person will be AB type
 If the genotype is IO IO, then the blood group of the person will be O type

9. If a trait A exists in 10% of a population of an asexually reproducing species

and a trait B exists in 60% of the same population, which trait is likely to have
arisen earlier ?

Trait B, because it is present in more members of the population. It is likely to have

arisen earlier and has now spread to 60% of the population. Trait A is new and has
spread to only 10% of the population.

10 How does the creation of variations in a species promote survival ?

The variations provide stability to the population of various species by preventing them
from getting wiped out during adverse conditions.
The natural environment also changes, and variations in species which become suited
to the environment help it to survive.
11How do Mendel’s experiments show that traits may be dominant or recessive ? 

Mendel took pea plants with contrasting characteristics tall plant and dwarf (or short)
plant. On cross pollination, he got all tall plants in first generation (F 1). But by the self-
pollination of F1 tall plants, the plants of second generation consisted of tall and short
plants in the ratio of 3 : 1. On the basis of these experiments, the characteristics
appeared in first generation were called dominant (i.e. tall plants) and the characteristics
that did not appear were called recessive (dwarf plants).

12. How do Mendel’s experiments show that traits are inherited independently ?

Mendel took two pairs of alternate expression of two traits and carried out dihybrid
crosses by crossing them. The traits appeared in first generation were termed as
dominant. When he used these F1 progeny to generate F2 progeny by self-pollination
plants of different types were produced. In some plants both the traits were dominant,
while in some plants both were recessive and some plants exhibited mixed traits. This
indicates that traits are inherited independently.
13. A man with blood group A marries a woman with blood group O and their
daughter has blood group O. Is this information enough to tell you which of the
traits – blood group A or O – is dominant ? Why or why not ?
This information is not enough. This is because each individual is carrying two alleles.
The recessive trait can occur only when whose alleles are similar. It blood group A is
dominant and O is recessive, then daughter can have blood group O only when both
recessive alleles occur together in mother, and father has one allele of O and other of A.

14. How is the sex of the child determined in human beings ?

OR
“The sex of a newborn child is a matter of chance and none of the parents may be
considered responsible for it.” Justify this statement with the help of a flow chart
showing determination of sex of a newborn. 

Half of the male gametes (sperms) carry X chromosome and other half carry Y
chromosomes. All the female gametes carry only X chromosomes. When a sperm
fertilizes an egg, the following situations become possible.

(i) When a sperm carrying X chromosome fertilises an egg that contains only X
chromosome), the resulting zygote develops into a female (XX condition).

(ii) When a sperm carrying Y chromosome fertilises an egg (that contains only X
chromosome), the resulting zygote develops into a male (XY condition).

Thus there are 50 – 50 chances of a male or female child and none of the parents may
be considered responsible for it.

15. What are autosomes and sex chromosomes?

Human cells contain 23 pairs of chromosomes. Out of which 22 pairs are called
autosomes and the last pair is called the sex chromosomes.

16. A pure breeding tall plant (TT) is crossed with a pure breeding dwarf plant (tt).
With the help of a cross, list the observations regarding
(i) the phenotype of F1 generation.
(ii) the phenotype and genotype and the phenotypic ratio and genotypic ration of
F2 generation when F1 plants are self pollinated.
 (i) Tall
(ii) Phenotype – ¾ Tall, ¼ Dwarf
Genotype- ¼ Homozygous tall, 2/4 Heterozygous tall, ¼ Homozygous
dwarf
Genotypic ratio- 1:2:1
Phenotypic ratio – 3:1

17. When a plant having homozygous yellow coloured and round shaped seeds (YYRR)
is crossed with a plant having homozygous green coloured and wrinkled shaped seeds
(yyrr), through a Punnett square find out

(i) the phenotype and genotype of F1 generation

(ii) the types of gametes formed by F1 generation

(iii) the phenotype of F2 generation and the phenotypic ratio

(i) Phenoytype- Yellow and round seeds

Genotype- Heterozygous yellow and round seeds
(ii) RY, Ry, rY, ry
(iii) Phenotype- 9/16 Yellow and round seeds
3/16 Yellow and wrinkled seeds
3/16 Green and round seeds
1/16 Green and wrinkled seeds

(iv) Phenotypic ratio- 9:3:3:1