Heredity and Evolution

Let’s do this activity.

Inventory of my traits
Each group to check the following traits and calculate the % of variants
present in their group and draw conclusions . The parameters are:
1. Free Earlobes / Attached Earlobes
2. Black hair/ blonde hair
3. Can roll tongue/ can’t roll tongue
4. Widow’s peak/ straight hair line
5. Clasping of fingers with right thumb up/ left thumb up
 Heredity and Traits
The transfer of characters from parents
to the off springs is called as heredity.
The characters that an offspring
receives are from both the parents.
These specific characteristics that vary
from one individual to the other are
called as Traits.
 Variations and its importance
The subtle differences that exist between
the off springs of the same species is
called as variations.
Accumulation of variations in a
population bring about the evolution of
new species.
Let us understand this with the help of an
example
For example ……
Gene for height can have two forms
Tall and Dwarf
Gene for Hair colour
black or blonde etc.
These alternative forms of a gene are called
as Alleles or Allelic pair.
Gregor Johann Mendel
Father of Genetics.
Laws of inheritance
 Why Garden pea Plant?
Mendel did his experimentation
on Garden pea plant as it has
following characters:
The plant had 7 pairs of visible
contrasting features.
They had bisexual flowers.
Plant was easy to grow and
reproduce
Controlled self and cross
pollination was possible.
Early maturation of the plant.
Contrasting characters in pea plant
Notations for pairs of characters
Each contrasting pair is represented by
letters----one in upper case and other in the
lower case for example…..
Height---- alleles Tall and Dwarf
Tall- TT
Dwarf-tt
seed colour---- yellow and Green
Yellow-YY
Green-yy
 Genetic Terminology
Allele: Two alternative forms of same gene is
called as an allele.
Homozygous condition: A condition in which
both the alleles are similar in a pair is called as
homozygous condition. Eg: pure Tall-TT
Heterozygous condition : A condition in which
both the alleles are dissimilar in a pair . Eg: Tall
–Tt
Phenotype: Physical appearance of an organism.
Genotype: Genetic constituent of an organism
 Genetic Terminology
Dominant trait: The trait that expresses itself in the
immediate generation is called as a dominant trait
Dominant Allele:The allele that expresses itself in
the immediate generation is called as dominant
allele.
Recessive trait: The trait that can not express itself
in presence of dominant trait is called as recessive
trait
Recessive Allele: The allele that is masked and
cannot be expressed in presence of dominant allele
is called as recessive allele.
Monohybrid cross and Dihybrid Cross
A cross that is made between parents
differing in one trait is called as
Monohybrid cross.

A cross that is made between parents

differing in two traits at a time is called as
Dihybrid Cross.
Phenotypic and Genotypic ratio of
Monohybrid cross

Phenotypic ratio of F2 generation

offspring is 3 Tall:1 Dwarf
Genotypic ration of F2 generation
offspring is 1TT: 2Tt: 1tt
Law of dominance and Segregation
When a pair of alleles are brought in a
hybrid , one of the allele express itself
called as dominant allele and other is
hidden and shown only in 2nd generation,
it is described as recessive allele.
When a pair of alleles are brought in a
hybrid, alleles tend to segregate during
gamete formation.
 Dihybrid cross
 When a cross is made taking two characters/ traits at a
time , it is called as a dihybrid cross.
 Let’s understand this with an example:
 A cross between Yellow and Round coloured seeds with
green and wrinkled seeds
 All the offspring of the first generation were Yellow and
Round indicating that Round and Yellow are dominant
traits.
 Let’s understand the given cross.
Dihybrid Cross

Phenotypic Ratio:
9:3:3:1
Genotypic Ratio :
4:2:2:2:2:1:1:1:1
Law of independent assortment
 Mendel's law of independent assortment states
that the alleles of two (or more) different genes
get sorted into gametes independently of one
another. In other words, the allele a gamete
receives for one gene does not influence the allele
received for another gene.
 Sex determination mechanism

Genetic Based: Humans( XX-XY);

Birds( ZW-ZZ); insects(XX-XO)
Environment Based: Lizard; Tortoise