GENETICS

 Inheritance of traits
 Mendel’s Law of Inheritance
OBJECTIVES

• Explain the principles of monohybrid and

dihybrid crosses.

•Describe Mendel's experimental and qualitative

approach in studying genetics.

• Elucidate the laws of genetics formulated by

Mendel.

• Solve sample problems in genetics.

INTRODUCTION
What is GENETICS?
 Genetics is a field of study that deals with heredity and
variation.

 Heredity is the transmission of genes from one

generation to the next generation.

 Genes are DNA molecules that determine the traits of

the organisms.

 Variations are the differences among individuals in a

species or different among species in a population
Variations between organisms can
either be…
 interspecific – variations between different
species (e.g. tigers have stripes and leopards
have spots)

 intraspecific – variations within a species

(e.g. blood type or height in humans)
Nature or nurture?
 Variations may be influenced by what is inherited from
the parents (the genotype)
 Variations may be influenced by the environment the
organism encounters as it grows and develops.
Genotype Environment
(nature) (nurture)

Phenotype
INHERITANCE OF TRAITS

Traits of individuals are inherited

through chromosomes
Chromosome
How many pairs of chromosomes do
we have?
INHERITANCE OF TRAITS

How are chromosomes inherited

from parents?
 INHERITANCE OF TRAITS

 During meiotic cell division, where

chromosomes are halved and passed from
the parent cell to the daughter cells
(gametes) the DNA molecules forming the
genes.

 These genes will be responsible for the

characteristics of the organism that will be
produced when a zygote form.
 INHERITANCE OF TRAITS
 Genome – the set of all the genes found in a cell
responsible for the characteristics of an individual.
- the genome is composed of two sets of
chromosome: paternal and maternal sets.

 Homologous chromosomes- refer to a pair of

paternal and maternal chromosomes that are of
the same size, similar gene location, common
banding patterns and the same centromere
location.
 INHERITANCE OF TRAITS

 Alleles-These are the genes found in the

same loci of homologous chromosomes or
the different forms of a gene for a single
trait.
HOMOLOGOUS CHROMOSOMES

Paternal Maternal
14
 INHERITANCE OF TRAITS

 When a diploid cell containing homologous

chromosomes undergo meiosis the allele are
separated forming haploid cell.

 The alleles present in a particular sex cell will

then be passed to the offspring once
fertilization occurs.
 After meiotic cell division and fertilization .

 The totality of the genetic make up of an individual is

called genotype.

 Genotype may also specifically refer to the

combination of alleles found in a homologous
chromosome. (combination of maternal and paternal
chromosome that undergo meiotic cell division.)

 Are represented by symbols also. (BB, bb or Bb)

 GENOTYPE vs. PHENOTYPE
GENOTYPE
It is the genetic make up or
genetic composition for a
particular trait
E.g., TT or Tt is the genotype for
the tall trait
while the tt is the genotype for
short trait
PHENOTYPE
It is the appearance or the
observable expression of a
particular genotype
E.g., Tall trait is determined by the
genotype TT or Tt
Short trait is determined by the
genotype tt
 Since diploid (46 chromosomes) individuals
contain two copies of genes (from mother
and father) it follows two alleles may be
present in the genome.
 DOMINANT vs. RECESSIVE ALLELE
DOMINANT ALLELE
Allele that always
expressed.
Represented as CAPITAL
letters - Example: G
RECESSIVE ALLELE
Allele that is not
expressed.
Represented by lowercase
letters - Example: g
HOMOZYGOUS HETEROZYGOUS
Are organisms Are organisms
who have 2 of the who have 2 of the
same alleles; different alleles;
Either 2 dominant Either 1 dominant
or 2 recessive and 1 recessive
Are written as: Are written with
2 capitals- GG both capital and
or lowercase letter.
2 lowercases- gg Gg
Encircle the RECESSIVE ALLE

A l L M i R a
Encircle the DOMINANT ALLE

g D M T j K f
Encircle the Homozygous dominant

JJ fF Rr SS AA bb
Encircle the Homozygous recessive

Kk MM vv yY tt hh
Encircle the Heterozygous genotype

Gg rr Ss tt Hh Dd
MENDEL’S LAW OF INHERITANCE

FACTORS OF INHERITANCE ARE

TRANSFERRED FROM PARENTS
TO OFFSPRING
MENDEL’S LAW OF INHERITANCE

How did Gregor Mendel elucidate

the basic pattern of inheritance
using garden peas?
GREGOR MENDEL
 An Austrian monk

 Father of genetics
 He presented in experiments
the nature of inheritance in
1866

 Used the garden peas (Pisum

sativum) as his main specimen
for his genetic experiments
 Pea plants for genetics

 Peas have many recognizable

characteristics (e.g. seed
shape)
 They are easy to cultivate
 Their life cycle is reasonably
short so results can be
obtained quickly http://www.ppdl.purdue.edu/PPDL/images/pisum-sativum.jpg

 Peas produce a large number

of offspring (seeds), which
makes results easier to verify.
 Pea plants for genetics

 Peas have
hermaphroditic flowers
 Self fertilization is
possible
 The male parts can be
pulled out to emasculate
the flowers, preventing
self fertilization.

jeantosti.com/fleurs4/pois.htm
Mendel’s breeding experiments
Taking one character only as an example, seed
colour
Parents (P) Female sex cells Male sex cells in
from a yellow- pollen from a
seeded plant green-seeded
plant

Cross fertilised (crossed)

First generation (F1)
All seeds produced turned
out yellow
The reciprocal cross

 Mendel tried the cross the other way

round
 Green seed female plant x yellow
seed male plant
 The same results were obtained.
Dominant and recessive traits

 The green seed coloured trait had

disappeared but it reappeared in later
generations as though it were hidden
 Traits that disappear and reappear (e.g.
green seed colour in peas) are called
recessive
 Those that hide them are called dominant
traits (e.g. yellow seed colour in peas).
Selfing

 Mendel produced a second generation of

plants using the first generation
 He brushed the male pollen grains onto
the female parts of the same flower
 This is called self pollination and it leads
to self fertilization or selfing.
 Selfing
First generation (F1) Yellow seed producing
plants

Selfed

Yellow Green
Second generation (F2) seeds seeds
6022 2001

About 75% show the About 25% show the

dominant trait recessive trait
 Refer to the PDF file
 Selfing
Yellow Green
Second generation (F2) seeds seeds
6022 2001

Selfed Selfed

Third generation (F3)

33% produce yellow 66% produce a All green seeds

seeds only mixture of yellow Pure breeding
Pure breeding & green seeds
Pure breeding

Those plants that only produce one

type are called pure breeding (or
true breeding).
Punnett Square

 The monohybrid cross may also be

expressed using a diagram called Punnett
Square which was first developed by
Reginald Punnet.
PUNNETT SQUARES (HOMOZYGOUS)

gg
Gg Gg
GG
Gg G g
All new plants are
GREEN
Law of Segregation

 This law states that all the genes for all

the traits of an organisms are equally
distributed in all of the resulting gametes
after meiosis.
 This principle states that each individuals
carry two hereditary alleles, affecting
any given character or trait
 In meiosis, these two alleles become
separated or segregated from each other
when the number of the chromosome
are reduced from diploid to haploid.
The Law of Independent Assortment

 Mendel derived the law of segregation by

following a single character
 The F1 offspring produced in this cross were
monohybrids, individuals that are
heterozygous for one character.
 A cross between such heterozygotes is called
a monohybrid cross.
 PUNNETT SQUARES
(HETEROZYGOUS)

Gg GG Gg

Gg Gg gg
3 GREEN pea plants
1 YELLOW pea plant
Summary of Mendel’s Findings
 Mendel identified his second law of inheritance
by following two characters at the same time.
 Crossing two true-breeding parents differing in
two characters produces dihybrids in the F1
generation, heterozygous for both characters.
 A dihybrid cross, a cross between F1 dihybrids,
can determine whether two characters are
transmitted to offspring as a package or
independently
Sample Problem

1. A dog breeder wants to know

whether his dog has homozygous
black fur or heterozygous black fur.
Illustrate using Punnett square the
probability of the offspring.
Sample Problem

2. Tall plant (T) is dominant over

short (t) pIant. Identify the F1
phenotype and genotype when a
homozygous tall plant mated with a
heterozygous tall plant.
Sample Problem

2. Tall plant (T) is dominant over

short (t) pIant. Identify the F1
phenotype and genotype when a
homozygous tall plant mated with a
heterozygous tall plant.
Sample Problem

3. In tomatoes, red fruit (R) is dominant

over yellow fruit (r). A plant that is
homozygous for red fruit crossed with a
plant that has yellow fruit. What would
be the genotypes and phenotypes of
the P1 and F1 generations?
SEATWORK #2

1) From an experimental breeding

experiments, yellow flowers (Y)
dominate over white flowers (y) in
certain plants. Solve the following
problems using Punnett Square.

a. Cross homozygous yellow flowered

plant with a white flowered plant.
SEATWORK #2

a. Cross homozygous yellow flowered

plant with a white flowered plant.

Parent genotypes: __________________

Genotype of offspring: _______________
Phenotype of offspring: ______________
Phenotypic Ratio ______________
Genotypic Ratio: ______________
SEATWORK #2

b. Cross a hybrid plant with a pure stain

yellow plant.

Parent genotypes: __________________

Genotype of offspring: _______________
Phenotype of offspring: ______________
Phenotypic Ratio ______________
Genotypic Ratio: ______________
SEATWORK #2

c. Cross a heterozygous plant with a

white plant.

Parent genotypes: __________________

Genotype of offspring: _______________
Phenotype of offspring: ______________
Phenotypic Ratio ______________
Genotypic Ratio: ______________
 SEATWORK #2
B-brown eye b-blue eye

2) Pure brown eyed is dominant over pure blue-eyed.

Answer the questions below using punnet square
when a pure brown eyed father mated with a pure
blue eyed mother.

a. Are any children blue-eyed? Why or why not?

b. Are the children pure bred or hybrid for eye
color?
c. Is it possible for these parents to have