GENES

&
CHROMOSOMES

Dr V.P.Saini
Prof. & Dean
College of Fisheries, Kishanganj
What is a gene?

A gene is the basic physical and functional unit of heredity.

Genes, which are made up of DNA, act as instructions to

make molecules called proteins

A gene represents a unit of specific molecular

information and corresponds to a discrete segment of
DNA.

The information is given by the sequence of the

different bases (A,C,G,T) found in that segment.
Every person has two copies of each gene, one
inherited from each parent.

Allelesare forms of the same gene with small

differences in their sequence of DNA bases.

These small differences contribute to each

person’s unique physical features.
DNA consists

 nitrogenous bases,
 phosphoric acid, and
 the sugar deoxyribose.
Four bases in nucleic acids

 adenine (A),
 cytosine (C),
 guanine (G) and
 thymine (T).
 RNA contains the same bases, except
that Uracil (U) replaces thymine
Nucleosides and nucleotides

 The bases and sugars in RNA and

DNA are joined together into units
called Nucleosides
 nucleosides with a phosphate group
attached through a phosphodiester
bond called nucleotides
 Nucleotides are the subunits of DNA
and RNA
A series of three base
pairs forms a codon

The codon is like a word in

the sentence that make a
gene
Features of watson and crick model
 Two strands of double helix are
antiparallel
 Double helix comprises of two
complementary polynucleotide
chanins
 Phosphate groups give the molecule a
negative charge
 The nitrogenous bases lie almost
perpendicular to the long axis of the
molecule
MITOCHONDRIAL DNA

 The 99.99% of mitochondrial DNA

(mtDNA) is inherited from the mother
 as sperm carry mitochondria in their
tail and have only ~ 100 mitochondria
compared to 100 000 in an egg
 liver cells have ~1000 mitochondria
GENE EXPRESSION

 Is
the molecular mechanism by which
a gene produces specific phenotype

 Which controls a specific metabolic

acticity
GENE
A gene is a unit of information which is held
as a code in a discrete segment of DNA.

 This
code specifies the amino acid
sequence of a protein.

 Exons-
The coding parts of a gene
sequence.

 Introns-The non coding parts of a gene

sequence
Activities of genes

A gene can be replicated - genetic

information can be passed from
generation to generation unchanged.
 The sequences of bases in the RNA
depends directly on the sequences of
bases in the gene.
 A gene can accept occasional
changes, or mutations.
CHROMOSOMES
The chromosomes are darkly stained
small bodies present in the nucleus and
determine the mechanism of inheritance
Chromosomes are the physical
structures which act as messenger of
heredity.
After specific staining, it can be clearly
seen during mitotic cell division during
the metaphase.
Contd…..
 In all eukaryotic organisms including
fishes, the DNA molecules in the
nucleus are combined into proteins,
mainly histones, to make
chromosomes.
Genes are located on structures
called “chromosomes”, which are
located in the nucleus of every cell.
Diploid chromosome
The chromosome number in the cells
of the body is normally made up of two
sets, one of maternal (female) and
one of paternal (male) origin,
is denoted by 2n
Haploid chromosome
A single set of chromosomes found in
a mature egg or in a spermatozoa is
known as a haploid set is denoted by
“n”.
A haploid set of chromosome is
called genome.
When more than two sets of
chromosomes occur in cells, the
condition is termed polyploidy.
Chromosome classification by centromeric
position

Metacentric
Sub- metacentric
Sub- telocentric
Acrocentric or telocentric
Metacentric
Centromere is located approximately at the
centre of the chromosome.
Their arms are approximately equal and
they appear U or V shape during
movement.

Sub- metacentric
When the centromere lies a little distance
away from the middle of the chromosomes
may be called sub-metacentric.
Sub- telocentric
 Centromere is located at sub-terminal
position of the chromosome.
One arm is much longer than the other.
They appear J or L-shaped during
movement.

Acrocentric or telocentric
Centromere is located at the end
(terminal) of the chromosome.
This is the most common karyotypes
among fish species, and also it is found
in a variety of distantly related fish taxa.
Chromosome classification by centromeric position

Type Centromeric Symbol Centromeric

position index (range)

Metacentric Nearly median m 46-49

Submetacentri Submedian sm 26-49

c

Acrocentric Subterminal st 15-30

Telocentric Terminal t <15

The portions of the chromosomes on
their side of the centromere are called
as the chromosome arms
The total number of chromosome
arms in a karyotype is called as
fundamental arm number (FN).
Centromeric index
The length of the shorter of the two
chromosome arms multiplied by 100
and divided by the length of the whole
chromosome and expressed as
percentage.
Arm ratio
The length of the longer arm of the
chromosome divided by the length of the
shorter arm. It is always greater than 1.
It is an alternative method to centromeric
index for describing the position of the
centromere and the relative lengths of
two arms.
Relative length
The length of the whole chromosome
multiplied by 100 and divided by the
total length of all the chromosomes in
the haploid set including one being
measured and expressed as a
percentage.
Karyotypes

The complete set of chromosomes

arranged according to their size
Karyotype of different species differ in
size, shape, and number of
chromosomes.
 Within a species, the males and
females may have minor dissimilarity
in the karyotypes.
Pair of chromosomes which are very
much similar are called as autosomes.
 Fish chromosomes

• The work on fish chromosomes began

with the studies 1890
• A revolution in the fish chromosome
cytology took place when pre-
treatment with colchicine coupled with
squashing (Roberts, 1964) and the
flame–drying method (Denton and
Howell, 1969) were made.
 Species chromosome
numbers
Catla, Rohu, Mrigal,Magur 50
Grass carp, Silver carp 48
Common carp, gold fish 104
H.fossilis 56
O.mossambicus, O.niloticus 44
C. Striatus 40
C.gachua 78
C.punctatus 32
M. rosenbergii 118
Penaeus monodon 88
Karyotyping
Pairing of the chromosomes according
to their size and morphology, then
became feasible.
Recent development of new
differential staining techniques has
allowed the characteristic banding of
chromosomes that have led to a better
understanding of the fine
characterization of individual
chromosomes.
Chromosomes of female Tilapia
Chromosome of C. batrachus
Sex chromosomes in fishes

Chromosomes that usually

determine an individual’s sex and the
pairs are often morphologically
different in the two sexes.
Autosomes are the other pairs of
chromosomes and are
morphologically the same in males
and females.
Male heterogamety, that is XX♀-
XY♂ sex chromosomes, is more
prevalent among fishes than the
female heterogamety (ZZ♂ -ZW♀).
Male heterogamety, is found in
some deepwater fishes and female
heterogamety in several species of
catfishes.
Polyploidy in fishes

Polyploid forms are found naturally in

six different orders of fishes:
Acipenseriformes, Salmoniformes,
Cypriniformes, Siluriformes,
Poecilloformes and in one species of
Perciformes.
Tetraploid fishes are the most
common among the polyploid forms.
Contd…..
Three species of cyprinids, the barb
(Barbus barbus), the carp (Cyprinus
carpio), and the goldfish (Carassius
auratus) appear to be tetraploid
The yellow fish species of the genus
Barbus (Cyprinidae) are hexaploids
Genetic significance of chromosomes

• The chromosomes are considered as the

organs of heredity because of the
following reasons
• They form the only link between two
generations
• A diploid chromosome set consists of
two morphologically similar (except the X
and Y sex chromosomes) sets, one is
derived from the mother and another
from the father at fertilization.
The genetic material, DNA or RNA is
localized in the chromosome and its
contents are relatively constant from
one generation to the next.
The chromosomes maintain and
replicate the genetic informations
contained in their DNA molecule.
MEIOTIC DIVISION

Meiosis is the process during which

the primary gametocytes develop into
eggs or sperm.
Meiosis consists of two cell divisions.
The first meiotic division is called the
“reduction division” and the second is
called the “equational division”
Crossing over
Crossing over is one of the most
important biological processes,
because it greatly increases genetic
variability.
 Crossing over tends to occur at
particular locations along each
chromosome.
Genes located near the centromere
cross over less frequently than those
further away
Equational division
The second meiotic division is called
the “equational division”.
the replicated homologues (sister
chromatids) in each secondary
gametocyte separate and are
parceled into either two sperm cells or
into the egg and second polar body
Development of gene mapping methods and
their application to fish species

The vast majority of mapped genes

can be assigned to one of four
classes:
Genes producing inherited diseases
or defects.
Genes producing “mutant”
phenotypes, though not necessarily
affecting viability
Contd…..
Genes producing distinctive colour
patterns, and
Biochemical loci, coding for enzyme
and other proteins.
In the first three classes,
establishment of homology between
species is usually difficult.
In situ hybridization method

The most recently developed method

of gene mapping with general utility is
the mapping of genes to
chromosomes by hybridizing DNA
Fluorescent in situ hybridization
(FISH) has been used to physically
localise some repeated non-coding
DNA sequences like telomeric
sequences, microsatellites and
minisatellites on chromosomes.
Uses of linkage maps
Detailed linkage maps allow the
identification of the types of
chromosomal rearrangements
can be used to detect the number
and location of other genes.
Genes involved in the inheritance of
polygenic characters could be
possibly identified by linkage to
mapped markers.
Thank you