Sex linked inheritance

Presented by: Kainat Rehman

Roll No: 24
Presented to : Dr. Saba Irshad
What is sex linked inheritance
Sex linked inheritance is specific pattern of inheritance
where mutated gene is present on a sex chromosome but
not on autosome
 The sex chromosomes determine the sex of an individual
while chromosomes other than sex chromosomes are called
autosomal chromosomes
 During meiosis in females, two X chromosomes pair and
segregate such that each egg receives one X chromosome.
So, the female is called as homogametic sex
 In males, X and Y chromosome pair over a small region in
such a way that X and Y chromosomes segregate so that
half the sperm cells receives X and the other half receives Y.
That’s why male is called as heterogametic sex.
There are some disorders that are caused by mutated genes
present on the X chromosome. They can be inherited in
either a dominant or recessive manner
males only have one X chromosome, so any mutated gene
present on the X chromosome, dominant or recessive will
result in disorder
 Females have two copies of X-linked genes, they will not
be affected by inheritance of a single recessive mutation on
an X-linked gene
Types of sex linked inheritance
Sex-linked inheritance is divided in three types depending on
the type of chromosome involved
Y-linked inheritance
 X-linked recessive inheritance
 X-linked dominant inheritance
X linked recessive inheritance
Affects mainly males
Affected males are usually born to unaffected parents
Mother is normally an asymptomatic carrier and usually
don’t express the phenotype
Females rarely suffer from X-linked recessive disorders
because they have a second unaltered copy of the gene on
their other X chromosome
examples
Color blindness in human
Haemophilia in human
Feather pattern in poultry
Haemophilia
Colour blindness
This trait is governed by a recessive gene located on X
chromosme
A person having such defect cannot differentiate between
red and green colour
Sons from the marriage between colour blind man and
normal woman will be normal, but daughters will carry
such genes
Marriage of such carrier girl with colour blind boy will
produce children in which both male and female children
will be colour blind each in 50% cases
X linked dominant inheritance
Affects either sex, but more females than males
If mother is affected then 50% of the son or/and daughter
will be affected
50% of the son or/ and daughter will be normal
If the father is affected, 100% of his daughter will have the
disorder
0% of his son will have the disorder because males inherit
X chromosome from their mother
Females inherit X chromosome from both of their parents
Example
Hypophosphatemic rickets is an X linked dominant trait
It is different from common dietary rickets, which could be
cured by taking Vit D
Its cause is a genetic communication failure at molecular
level
Genes encoding bone proteins never receive vitamin’s D
message to function
Y linked inheritance
Holandric inheritance
Affects only males
Affected males always have an affected father
All sons of an affected man are affected
Y chromosome is small and doesn’t contain numerous
genes
Y linked disorders are very rare
Sex linked inheritance in Drosophila
Morgan raised cultures of drosophilla flies to study eye
colour
He crossed wild type red eyed female with mutant white
eyed male
In F1 generation , all offsprings were red eyed
It means red eye color is dominant over white eyed color
Morgan allowed males and females of F1 generation to
mate and produce F2 generation
He got 3:1 F2 ratio and noticed that there was no female
with white eye
Inheritance in birds
Female pigeons (ZW) have just one Z chromosome, and

therefore just one allele for each of the genes located there

One gene on the Z chromosome affects feather color; three

different alleles make feathers blue, ash-red, or brown

 In a female bird (ZW), her single color allele determines

her feather color

 But in males (ZZ), two alleles work together to determine feather color

according to their dominance. That is, 'ash-red' is dominant to 'blue',

which is dominant to 'brown‘

 Female pigeons inherit their color allele from their father. Males inherit

one allele from each parent. In humans (below), the pattern is reversed.