M E N D E L IA N

INHI R IT A N C E
L I F . A NC OG,RMT,RN , LL B
INSTRUCTOR:WYN
• HIPPOCRATES - A FAMOUS GREEK PHYSICIAN, WAS THE FIRST PERSON TO PROVIDE AN EXPLANATION FOR HEREDITARY TRAITS (CA.
400 B.C.E.).

• PANGENESIS – “SEEDS” CAUSE CERTAIN TRAITS OF THE OFFSPRING TO RESEMBLE THOSE OF THE
PARENTS.
- WAS THE FIRST ATTEMPT TO EXPLAIN THE TRANSMISSION OF HEREDITARY TRAITS FROM
GENERATION TO GENERATION.

• JOSEPH KÖLREUTER FROM 1761 TO 1766 - FIRST SYSTEMATIC STUDIES OF GENETIC CROSSES
- IN CROSSES BETWEEN DIFFERENT STRAINS OF TOBACCO PLANTS, HE FOUND THAT THE OFFSPRING WERE
USUALLY INTERMEDIATE IN APPEARANCE BETWEEN THE TWO PARENTS.

• BLENDING INHERITANCE - THE FACTORS THAT DICTATE HEREDITARY TRAITS CAN BLEND TOGETHER FROM GENERATION TO
GENERATION. THE BLENDED TRAITS WOULD THEN BE PASSED TO THE NEXT GENERATION
GREGOR JOHANN MENDEL, THE FATHER OF GENETICS
MONOHYBRID CROSSES

• BY CONDUCTING MONOHYBRID CROSSES, MENDEL PROPOSED THREE KEY IDEAS REGARDING

INHERITANCE.:
• (1) TRAITS MAY BE DOMINANT OR RECESSIVE.
• (2) GENES ARE PASSED UNALTERED FROM GENERATION TO GENERATION.
• (3) THE TWO ALLELES OF A GIVEN GENE SEGREGATE FROM EACH OTHER DURING GAMETE FORMATION
MENDEL’S LAW OF SEGREGATION
• THE TWO COPIES OF A GENE SEGREGATE (OR SEPARATE) FROM EACH OTHER DURING TRANSMISSION
FROM PARENT TO OFFSPRING.
• GENOTYPE - REFERS TO THE GENETIC COMPOSITION OF AN INDIVIDUAL.
• PHENOTYPE - REFERS TO AN OBSERVABLE CHARACTERISTIC OF AN ORGANISM.
• A PUNNETT SQUARE - AN EASY WAY TO PREDICT THE OUTCOME OF SIMPLE GENETIC CROSSES.
- METHOD ORIGINALLY PROPOSED BY REGINALD PUNNETT.
CONDUCTING DIHYBRID CROSSES
• MENDEL PROPOSED THE LAW OF INDEPENDENT ASSORTMENT BY CONDUCTING THE DIHYBRID CROSSES
• GENETIC RECOMBINATION - WHEN AN OFFSPRING RECEIVES A COMBINATION OF ALLELES THAT DIFFERS
FROM THOSE IN THE PARENTAL GENERATION.

• MENDEL’S LAW OF INDEPENDENT ASSORTMENTS - TWO DIFFERENT GENES WILL RANDOMLY ASSORT
THEIR ALLELES DURING THE FORMATION OF HAPLOID CELLS.
- THE ALLELE FOR ONE GENE WILL BE FOUND WITHIN A RESULTING GAMETE
INDEPENDENTLY OF WHETHER THE ALLELE FOR A DIFFERENT GENE IS FOUND
IN THE SAME GAMETE.
GENETIC RECOMBINATION - WHEN AN OFFSPRING RECEIVES A COMBINATION OF ALLELES THAT DIFFERS
FROM THOSE IN THE PARENTAL GENERATION
• LOSS-OF FUNCTION ALLELES – A DEFECTIVE COPY OF A GENE TO SEE HOW THAT WILL AFFECT THE
PHENOTYPE OF THE ORGANISM.

• PEDIGREE ANALYSIS - DETERMINING THE TYPE OF INHERITANCE PATTERN THAT A GENE WILL FOLLOW
THAT
IS CONTAINED WITHIN THE FAMILY TREE.
- COMMONLY USED TO DETERMINE THE INHERITANCE PATTERN OF HUMAN GENETIC
DISEASES. HUMAN GENETICISTS ARE ROUTINELY INTERESTED IN KNOWING
WHETHER A GENETIC DISEASE IS INHERITED AS A RECESSIVE OR DOMINANT TRAIT.
PROBABILITY AND STATISTICS
• A POWERFUL APPLICATION OF MENDEL’S WORK IS THAT THE LAWS OF INHERITANCE CAN BE USED TO PREDICT THE
OUTCOME OF GENETIC CROSSES.

• APPLICATION IN :
AGRICULTURE
PREDICTION ON TRAITS OF CHILDREN

• TO COMPUTE PROBABILITY, WE WILL USE THREE MATHEMATICAL OPERATIONS KNOWN AS THE SUM RULE, THE
PRODUCT RULE, AND THE BINOMIAL EXPANSION EQUATION.

• PROBABILITY CALCULATIONS CAN ALSO BE USED IN HYPOTHESIS TESTING

• PROBABILITY - THE CHANCE THAT AN EVENT WILL OCCUR IN THE FUTURE
• RANDOM SAMPLING ERROR - THE DEVIATION BETWEEN THE OBSERVED AND EXPECTED OUTCOMES
 THE SUM RULE CAN BE USED TO PREDICT THE OCCURRENCE OF MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE
EVENTS.

• SUM RULE - THE PROBABILITY THAT ONE OF TWO OR MORE MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE EVENTS WILL OCCUR IS
EQUAL TO THE SUM OF THE INDIVIDUAL PROBABILITIES OF THE EVENTS.
- THE SUM RULE ALLOWS US TO DETERMINE THE PROBABILITY THAT WE WILL OBTAIN ANY ONE
OF TWO OR MORE DIFFERENT TYPES OF OFFSPRING.
THE PRODUCT RULE CAN BE USED TO PREDICT THE
PROBABILITY OF INDEPENDENT EVENTS

• INDEPENDENT EVENT - MEAN THAT THE OCCURRENCE OF ONE EVENT DOES NOT AFFECT THE PROBABILITY
OF ANOTHER EVENT.

• PRODUCT RULE - THE PROBABILITY THAT TWO OR MORE INDEPENDENT EVENTS WILL OCCUR IS EQUAL TO
THE PRODUCT OF THEIR INDIVIDUAL PROBABILITIES.
THE BINOMIAL EXPANSION EQUATION CAN BE USED TO PREDICT
THE PROBABILITY OF AN UNORDERED COMBINATION OF EVENTS
• A THIRD PREDICTIVE PROBLEM IN GENETICS IS TO DETERMINE THE PROBABILITY THAT A CERTAIN
PROPORTION OF OFFSPRING WILL BE PRODUCED WITH PARTICULAR CHARACTERISTICS; HERE THEY CAN
BE PRODUCED IN AN UNSPECIFIED ORDER.

• BINOMIAL EXPANSION EQUATION

END OF SLIDES