HEREDITY

Heredity:
also called inheritance or biological
inheritance, is the passing on of traits
from parents to their offspring; 
Genetics
 Genetics, study of heredity in general and
of genes in particular.

 Genetics forms one of the central pillars

of biology and overlaps with many other
areas such as agriculture, medicine, and
biotechnology.
Genotype
 The genotype of an organism is its
complete set of genetic material. Genotype
can also be used to refer to the alleles or
variants an individual carries in a
particular gene or genetic location.
Phenotype
 Phenotype refers to an individual's
observable traits, such as height, eye color
and blood type. A person's phenotype is
determined by both their genomic makeup
(genotype) and environmental factors
Punnett Square
 The Punnett square is a square diagram
that is used to predict the genotypes of a
particular cross or breeding experiment

  It is named after Reginald C. Punnett,

who devised the approach in 1905. The
diagram is used by biologists to
determine the probability of an offspring
having a particular genotype.
Problem: In rabbits, black fur is dominant to white fur.
If you cross a BB male with a Bb female, what are the
possible genotypes and phenotypes of the offspring?
What is the percent chance for each type?

PARENTS B B
B
b
In cabbage butterflies, White wings are dominant to yellow
wings. If a Ww butterfly is crossed with a ww butterfly, what
are the possible genotypes and phenotypes of the offspring
and the percent chance for each?

PARENTS W w
w
w
The abilities of the father is a dancer and an actor while the
mother is cute and funny. Create a punnet square to show the
possibilities of their children.

PARENTS
 Genetics may be defined as the study of genes
at all levels, including the ways in which they
act in the cell and the ways in which they are
transmitted from parents to offspring.

 Modern genetics focuses on the chemical

substance that genes are made of, called
deoxyribonucleic acid, or DNA,
Johann Gregor Mendel (1822-1884)
Father of Genetics
1) The Law of Segregation: Each inherited trait is
defined by a gene pair. Parental genes are randomly
separated to the sex cells so that sex cells contain
only one gene of the pair. Offspring therefore
inherit one genetic allele from each parent when
sex cells unite in fertilization.
2) The Law of Independent Assortment: Genes
for different traits are sorted separately from one
another so that the inheritance of one trait is not
dependent on the inheritance of another.
3) The Law of Dominance: An organism with
alternate forms of a gene will express the form that
is dominant.

The genetic experiments Mendel did with pea plants took

him eight years (1856-1863) and he published his results
in 1865. During this time, Mendel grew over 10,000 pea
plants, keeping track of progeny number and type.
Mendel's work and his Laws of Inheritance were not
appreciated in his time. It wasn't until 1900, after the
rediscovery of his Laws, that his experimental results
were understood.