Classes Notes

Principles of Inheritance and Variation

Blood Group Inheritance, Coat Colour in Rabbits

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 Key Takeaways

Incomplete
The concept ofdominance
dominance 1

2 Multiple alleles

Multiple alleles for blood

3
groups in humans
Multiple alleles for coat colour
4
in rabbit

Summary
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 The Concept of Dominance
Mendel’s law failed to explain the concepts of incomplete dominance and co-dominance.

Substrate Product

Enzyme + Enzyme - substrate Enzyme - product Enzyme +

substrate complex complex product

For example, a gene contains the information for producing an enzyme. Now
there are two copies of a gene i.e., two allelic forms. The normal allele produces
the normal enzyme which is needed for the transformation of a substrate S.
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 The Concept of Dominance
Enzyme + Product
This allele can change due to some modifications Normal/less
efficient
enzyme
Substrate

Enzyme + Product
Non-functional
enzyme

Enzyme + Enzyme - Substrate

Substrate Complex
Substrate

No enzyme

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 The Concept of Dominance
● When the modified allele produces a non-functional enzyme or no enzyme, the
phenotype may be affected.
● The phenotype/trait will only be dependent on the functioning of the normal
allele.
● The unmodified, fully functional allele, which represents the original phenotype is
the dominant allele and the modified allele is generally the recessive allele.
● So, the recessive trait is seen because both the alleles present produce
non-functional enzyme or no enzyme at all.

Dominant allele Recessive allele

❖ Normal ❖ Modified
❖ Unmodified ❖ Non-functional
❖ Fully functional
❖ Original phenotype
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 The Concept of Dominance

● Now, in cases of co-dominance or incomplete dominance, the new

alleles do not produce useless or non-functional enzyme.
● Instead, they produce an enzyme which actually has the ability to give
rise to a new or different trait.
● Hence, when the two different alleles are present together in an
individual, one of the two things happen:
○ the physiological process initiated by the different alleles result in a
new trait, which can be seen as a blend of the homozygous traits
(incomplete dominance).
○ the two alleles are expressed independent of each other and hence
both the alleles are expressed together in the phenotype
(co-dominance).

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 Multiple Alleles

Allele

More than two Single Other alleles are found in

Individual has only
alleles of the chromosome other members of the
two of the alleles
same genes in a has only one population
population allele

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 Multiple Alleles

Examples of organisms with multiple alleles

Alleles for eye colour in 3 alleles for ABO blood 4 alleles for coat colour in
Drosophila groups in humans rabbit.

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 Multiple Alleles for Blood Group in Humans
Gene I

IA IB i

A B O

Blood group A Blood group B Blood group O

Human ABO blood groups

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 Multiple Alleles for Blood Group in Humans

P generation P generation P generation

A X O A X B B X O
A(IAIA) O(ii) B(IBIB)
A(IAIA) B(IBIB) O(ii)

A
AB B

A(IAi) AB(IAIB) B(IBi)

F1 generation F1 generation F1 generation

● When IA and i are present, only IA is expressed because i does not produce any antigen.
● When IB and i are present, only IB is expressed because i does not produce any antigen.
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 Multiple Alleles for Blood Group in Humans
Genotype Blood
Allele from Allele from Type of
of type of
parent 1 parent 2 dominance
offspring offspring
Human blood groups
A A A A (ABO)
I I I I A -

IA IB I AI B AB Co-dominance
Phenotype Genotype
IA i I Ai A Dominance

O ii
IB IA I AI B AB Co-dominance

B B B B A IAIA, IAi
I I I I B -

B B B IBIB, IBi
I i I i B Dominance

AB IAIB
i i ii O -
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 Multiple Alleles for Blood Group in Humans
O A B AB
i i IA i IB IA IB
O
i ii ii IAi ii IBi IAi IBi
O O A O B A B
ii ii IAi ii IBi IAi IBi
i
O O A O B A B This box marks the unique
A
A
A
I i A
I i I IA A I i I I AB
I IAA
I I AB
genotypes found in human
IA
A A A A AB A AB blood groups.
ii ii IAi ii IBi IAi IBi
i
O O A O B A B
B
IBi IBi IAIB IBi IBIB IAIB IBIB
IB
B B AB B B AB B
A IAi IAi IAIA IAi IAIB IAIA IAIB
I
A A A A AB A AB
AB
IBi IBi IAIB IBi IBIB IAIB IBIB
IB
B B AB B B AB B
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 Multiple Alleles for Coat Colour in Rabbit
● Rabbits have four different alleles that determine their coat colours.

Gene C

Agouti Chinchilla Himalayan Albino

Coat colour in rabbits

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 Multiple Alleles for Coat Colour in Rabbit

● Differences in the various alleles are related to the function of

tyrosinase.
● The C allele encodes a fully functional tyrosinase that
eventually results in a full brown coat color.
● The chinchilla allele (Cch) is a partial defect in tyrosinase that
leads to a slight reduction in black pigment and a greatly
diminished amount of orange/yellow pigment, which makes the
animal look gray.
● The albino allele, designated c, is a complete loss of tyrosinase,
resulting in white color.

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 Multiple Alleles for Coat Colour in Rabbit

● The himalayan pattern of coat color, determined by the Ch

allele, is an example of a temperature-sensitive allele.
● The mutation in this gene has caused a change in the
structure of tyrosinase, so it works enzymatically only at low
temperature.
● Because of this property, the enzyme functions only in cooler
regions of the body, primarily the tail, the paws, and the tips
of the nose and ears.

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 Did You Know?

Multiple alleles

● 15 alleles code for the eye colour in

Drosophila.

● They show various types of

co-dominance and incomplete
dominance.

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 Summary
Presence of more than two
Multiple alleles alleles of the same genes Gene I
in a population.

Human Blood Groups (ABO) IA IB i

Phenotype Genotype

A B O
O ii

A IAIA, IAi Blood group A Blood group B Blood group O

B IBIB, IBi
Human ABO blood groups
AB
AB I I
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 Summary
● Rabbits have four different alleles that determine their coat colours.

Gene C

Agouti Chinchilla Himalayan Albino

Coat colour in rabbits

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