Ch 11 Notes

Sec 1 Basic Patterns of Human Inheritance

A recessive trait is expressed when the individual is homozygous recessive for the trait.

Those with at least one dominant allele will not express the recessive disorder.

An individuals who is heterozygous for a recessive disorder is called a carrier.

Recessive genetic disorders:

Cystic fibrosis: mucous and Chloride ions are not properly transported out of cells

Albinism: absence of the skin pigment melanin in hair and eyes

Tay Sachs: absence of the enzymes responsible for breaking down fatty acids, it inflates brain nerve
cells and causes mental deterioration common in kids.

Galactosemia: Inability to digest milk products (containing galactose)

Dominant genetic disorders:

Huntington’s disease: affect nervous system common in adults.

Achondroplasia small body size and limbs that are comparatively short

If the parents are normal and the kids are infected then the disease is recessive.
If one of the parents is infected then the disease is dominant.

If the parent is homo dominant then all the kids are infected.

If the parent is hetero dominant not all the kids are infected.

Sec 2: Complex patterns of human inheritance

With incomplete dominance, the heterozygous phenotype is an intermediate phenotype between the
two homozygous phenotypes.

In codominance, both the dominant and recessive alleles are expressed in heterozygous individuals. Eg:
sickle cell anemia

Some forms of inheritance are determined by more than two alleles, referred to as multiple alleles. Eg:
ABO blood group

In rabbits the hierarchy of dominance is C > cch > ch >c.

• Epistasis is an interaction where of one allele hiding the effects of another allele. Eg: Labrador
retrievers.

• XX: female XY: male the other 22 pairs of chromosomes are called autosomes.

• In female, one X chromosome is inactivated in each cell Called dosage compensation or x-

inactivation. Inactivated X chromosomes are called Barr bodies.

• Sex-linked traits: Because males have only one copy of the X chromosome, they are more
affected by recessive X-linked traits.

• Red-green color blindness Recessive, X-linked trait Mothers are carriers Common in males.

• Hemophilia Recessive, X-linked trait that causes delayed clotting of blood common in males.

• Polygenic traits arise from the interaction of multiple pairs of genes. Include such traits as skin
color, height, and eye color

Sec 3: Chromosomes and Human Heredity

• Karyotype – micrograph in which the pairs of homologous chromosomes are arranged in

decreasing size.

• Telomeres are protective caps on the end of chromosomes. Consist of DNA and proteins.

They serve as a protective function for the structure of the chromosome. Scientists have
discovered that telomeres also might be involved in cancer and aging.

• Cell division where sister chromatids fail to separate properly is called nondisjunction.
• Down syndrome Result of an extra chromosome 21