Principles of Genetics and

Animal Breeding
 No two animals are exactly alike. Even
with twins one may be taller, one may be
heavier, or grow faster.
 The two main factors that contribute to
these differences in animals are:
- The environment.
- The genetic make up of the
animal.
What is genetics
 branch of biology concerned with the
study of genes, genetic variation, and 
heredity in organisms
 Study of genes, its inheritance pattern
from the parent into the offspring
 The traveling of genes from
generation to generation
History of genetics

 Farmers and animal breeders have long relied on heredity

to improve the quality of plants and animals by
crossbreeding.
 Acquired characteristics (Jean Baptiste Lamarck (1744-
1829)
 Introduced the idea that plants and animals changed or adapted
as they reacted to changes or new threats in their environment.
 Character that an organism altered or acquired were transmitted
to its offspring
 Natural selection
- Charles Darwin (1809-1882) – theory that species
originated and evolved through generations.
- better adapted members survive longer and produce
more offspring than those who are less well adapted
(survival of the fittest)
- the traits reduces chances for survival and
reproduction would gradually become rare within a species
over generation
 Gregor Mendel (1822-1884) Australian
monk and teacher
 Formulated an accurate account of how
genetic characteristics are transmitted from
one generation to the next
 His work led to the new field of genetics
 Different traits, pea (tall or short)
 The inherited traits of a living organism are determined by distinct
factors (genes) that are transmitted from one generation to the next
 Many characteristics of organisms are determined by the
interaction of a pair of hereditary factors
 The factors in a pair determining a trait may be the same or
different.
when they are different, the dominant form masks the effect of the
other form, which is called recessive
 Organisms with specific traits are produced in predictable numbers
according to statistical rules from one generation to the next
chromosomes
 Cell division – threadlike material
 Contains protein
Genes

 After discovery of chromosomes many scientist suspected that

chromosomes were carriers of the hereditary factors Mendel had
studied
 By early 1900s scientists suggested that each chromosomes carries
many distinct hereditary units that determine the characteristics of a
plant or animal. (genes)
DNA

 For many years, scientist believed that protein was the genetic
material inside chromosomes
 Oswald Avery (1944)
when DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid), a substance present in
chromosomes of all living cells, was transferred from one bacterium to
another, it radically changed the characteristics of the recipient
bacterium.
Gene is a sequence of DNA that encodes for a specific trait
- basic unit of genetic information. Genes determine the inherited
characters
The position of a gene on a particular chromosome is called the locus (plural = loci)
 Alleles are alternative forms of a gene that code for the different variations of a specific
trait
For example, the gene for eye colour has alleles that encode different
shades / pigments

As alleles are alternative forms of the one gene, they possess very

similar gene sequences
Alleles only differ from each other by one or a few bases
 DNA - is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic
instructions specifying the biological development of all
cellular forms of life
 The DNA segments that carry genetic information are called genes,
but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved
in regulating the expression of genetic information.
 It is often compared to a blueprint
 A gene mutation is a change in the nucleotide sequence of
a section of DNA coding for a specific trait
 New alleles are formed by mutation

Gene mutations can be beneficial, detrimental or neutral

 Beneficial mutations change the gene sequence (missense
mutations) to create new variations of a trait
 Detrimental mutations truncate the gene sequence
(nonsense mutations) to abrogate the normal function of a
trait
 Neutral mutations have no effect on the functioning of the
specific feature (silent mutations)