GENETICS

MITOSIS

Mitosis is a nuclear division giving rise to

genetically identical cells.
The exact replication of chromosomes
occurs before mitosis.
During mitosis, the copies of chromosomes
separate, maintaining the chromosome
number in each daughter cell.
Role of Mitosis
 Growth: mitosis produces new cells

 Asexual reproduction: mitosis produces offspring that are genetically

identical to the parent.

 Repair of damaged tissues: Cell divides to repair a damaged part of the

body.

 Replacement of cell: to replace damaged or dead cells eg. skin cells and
RBCs
Stem cells
Stem cells are unspecialised cells that divide by
mitosis to produce daughter cells that can
become specialised for specific functions.This
is called differentiation.
The newly formed cells are genetically
identical
(have same genes) which will become skin cells,
muscle cells, liver cells etc.
This is done by ‘switching on’ or expression of
genes.
Meiosis
 Meiosis is a reduction division in which the chromosome
number is halved from diploid to haploid resulting in
genetically different cells.
 Meiosis is involved in the production of gametes.
 Meiosis produces variation by forming new combinations of
maternal and paternal chromosomes. One of each pair of
homologous chromosomes comes from mother and one
from their father. During meiosis, the new cells get a
mixture of these. There are different combinations of
genes from mother and father are possible which make
variation.
Differences between mitosis and meiosis
Genetic terms
Chromosomes Human chromosomes
 Chromosomes are a
thread-like structure
of DNA, carrying
genetic information in
the form of genes.
 It is present in the
nucleus.
Gene

Gene is a length of DNA that codes

for a protein.
Allele

Allele is a version of a gene

Or
Different forms of a gene.
Genetic code
 Genetic  The DNA has 4 bases A,T,G
code is the
sequence of bases in a and C.
 The DNA bases are read in
gene for putting
together amino acids sets of three, called
triplets.
in the correct order to
 For eg, in a sequence of
make a specific
bases , CCGCAG, in a DNA
protein. molecule, ‘CCG’ stands for
amino acid ‘ Glycine’ and
‘CAG’ stands for amino
acid ‘valine’.
DNA controls cell functions. How?
 Sequence of bases in a DNA determines the sequence of
amino acids in a protein.
 A gene- length of DNA coding for a particular protein-
determines what protein will be made.
 This proteins will affect the feature of the organisms.
 Because, many proteins act as enzymes, antibodies and
receptors for neurotransmitters.
 For eg, the active site of an enzyme determines the type
of metabolic reactions in a cell.
Protein synthesis
 The gene coding for the protein
remains in the nucleus.
 mRNA molecules carry a copy
of the gene to the cytoplasm.
 the mRNA passes through
ribosomes.
 the ribosome assembles amino
acids into protein molecules.
 the specific order of amino acids
is determined by the sequence of
bases in the mRNA.
All body cells in an organism contain
the same genes, but many genes in a particular
cell are not expressed because the cell only
makes the specific proteins it needs.

In each cell, only a particular set of genes is ‘

switched on’, or expressed.
Sex determination in humans
 Sex is determined by X and Y
chromosomes.
 Males are XY and females are XX.
 Egg cells have only X chromosomes.
So females can only provide X
chromosome.
 Sperm cells have X or Y
chromosome. So, only male can
provide X or Y chromosomes.
 ONLY MALE CAN PROVIDE ‘Y’
CHROMOSOME.
 Union of sperm with X chromosome
and an egg with X chromosome
forms a girl child.
 Union of a sperm with Y
chromosome and an egg with X
chromosome forms a boy child.
Haploid and diploid nucleus
 Haploid nucleus  Diploid nucleus
A haploid nucleus as a A diploid nucleus as a nucleus
nucleus containing a single containing two sets of chromosomes, e.g. in
set of unpaired body cells
chromosomes, e.g. in
gametes

 In a diploid cell, there is a pair of each

type of chromosome and in a human
diploid cell there are 23 pairs.