Chapter 9 – Heredity

• Genetics : Branch of science that deals with Heredity and variation.

• Heredity : It means the transmission of characters/ traits from one
generation to the next generation.
• Variation : The differences among the individuals of a species/population
are called variations. It takes place due to
1) environment changes,
2) crossing over
3) recombination of genes
4) mutation.
• Genotype: The complete set of genes in an organism’s genome is called
genotype.
• Phenotype: The observable characters in an organism make the
phenotype.

Mendel and His Work on Inheritance

•
Gregor Johann Mendel (1822& 1884) : He proposed the laws of
inheritance in living organisms.
Mendel was known as Father of Genetics

• Plant selected by Mendel : Pisum sativum (garden pea). Mendel used a

number of contrasting characters for garden pea.

Reason for the selection of pea plants for the genetic experiments
The reason for the selection of pea plants for the genetic experiments are

1. Easy to grow in the garden.

2. The flowers of pea plants are hermaphrodite, i.e flowers have bisexual
characteristics.
3. Easy to obtain pure breed plant through self-fertilization
4. The generation time of pea plants is less.
5. It has many contrasting characteristics.

•
• Mendel’s Experiments : Mendel conducted a series of experiments in
which he crossed the pollinated plants to study one character (at a time)
Cross between two pea plants with one pair of contrasting characters is called a mono
hybrid cross.
 • Cross between a tall and a draft plant (short).

Dihybrid Cross : A cross between two plants having two pairs of contrasting
characters is called dihybrid cross.
Phenotypic Ratio
Round, yellow : 9
Round, green : 3
Wrinkled, yellow : 3
Wrinkled, green : 1

Mendel’s lawsThe two experiments lead to the formulation of Mendel’s laws known as laws
of inheritance which are:

1. Law of Dominance
2. Law of Segregation
3. Law of Independent Assortment

Law of Dominance
Mendel's law of dominance states that in a heterozygote, rather than both alleles contributing to a
phenotype, the dominant allele will be expressed exclusively. The alleles that are suppressed are
called as the recessive traits while the alleles that determine the trait are known as the dormant traits.

Law of Segregation
The law of segregation states that during the production of gametes, two alleles segregate so that
offspring acquire one factor from each parent. In other words, allele pairs segregate during the
formation of gamete and re-unite randomly during fertilization. This is also known as Mendel’s third
law of inheritance.
Law of Independent Assortment
Law of independent assortment is based on dihybrid cross. It states that inheritance of
one character is always independent of the inheritance of other characters within the
same individual.

SEX DETERMINATION
Determination of sex of an offspring.
FACTORS

Sex Chromosomes :In human beings there are 23 pairs of chromosome. Out of these
22 chromosomes pairs are called autosomes and the last pair of chromosome that help
in deciding gender of that individual is called sex chromosome.
XX – female
XY – male

This shows that half the children will be boys and half will be girls. All children will
inherit an X chromosome from their mother regardless whether they are boys or girls.
Thus sex of children will be determined by what they inherit from their father, and not
from their mother.