Inheritance

Introduction :
Inheritance is the passing of traits from parents to offspring.
Genetics is the science that study inheritance and variation in living organisms.
Mendel was the first person to study inheritance. He chose pea plants to work on. Peas were an
ideal choice because of the following :
1. __________________________________________.
2. __________________________________________.
3. __________________________________________.
4. __________________________________________.
He studied seven traits, each of which has two contrasting varieties.

Mendel started his experiment by pure-breeding plants, these are, plants which when self
fertilized produce identical offspring generation after another
Mendel experiments :
Mendel selected two pure-breeding plants with alternative varieties of a particular trait
( one pure tall and the other pure short plant ).
He carried cross-pollination between them.
He collected the seeds resulted and grew them to give
the first-generation offspring ( F1 )
He carried a self pollination for F1 plants and collected
the seeds, and grew them to give F2 generation.

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What results he got?
1. Only one of the traits appeared at F1 generation and the other trait disappeared.
2. The trait that appeared at F1 reappeared at F2 in larger proportion.
3. The trait that disappeared at F1 appeared at F2 in smaller proportion.
Note : Mendel repeated his experiment on other traits and every time he got the same results.
How Mendel explained these results?
He called the trait that appeared in F1 generation Dominant trait. [ tallness is dominant ]
He called the trait that disappeared in F1 generation Recessive trait. [ shortness is recessive ]
Every trait is controlled by 2 factors ( alleles ).
Gametes contain only one allele, because alleles segregate into different gametes during meiosis.
Factor of the dominant trait represented by capital letter. [ T : is the factor for tallness ]
Factor of the recessive trait represented by small letter. [ t : is the factor for dwarf ]
An organism that has two similar alleles known as Homozygous ( TT,tt )
An organism that has two different alleles known as heterozygous ( Tt )
Dominant allele : an allele which has the same effect on the phenotype of an organism weather
the organism is homozygous or heterozygous for the gene.
Recessive alleles : alleles which only shows in the phenotype when no dominant allele is present.
So Mendel put his first law of inheritance ( Law of segregation ) :
Characteristics of an organism are determined by alleles which occur in pairs
Only one allele can be present in a single gamete.

For the previous example :

Tall plant contained 2 dominant alleles TT
Short plant contained 2 recessive alleles tt.
When they were crossed, each plant formed gametes, so :
alleles segregate into different gametes
The tall plant gave two similar gametes __T__ and ___T__.
The short plant gave two similar gametes __t__ and ___t__.
gametes t t
We can represent the different possible combinations of gametes T Tt Tt
using Punnette square. T Tt Tt
All F1 were heterozygous Tt.

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 In a heterozygous organism the dominant allele T masks the effect of the recessive allele t
so all plants appears Tall.
TT homozygous dominant. tall
Tt heterozygous dominant ( coz. T masks t ). tall
tt homozygous recessive. Short

Genotypes phenotypes

Genotype : the alleles that an individual has (Gene make up of the organism )
Phenotype : the way the alleles are expressed in the individual ( the physical appearance of the organism )

Phenotype results from interaction of the genotype and the environment.

Monohybrid inheritance :
Is the cross between two individuals to study the inheritance of a single characteristic, one
gene. ( Here 2 alleles are involved ).
What is the result of crossing a homozygous tall plant and a homozygous short plant.
phenotype Homozygous tall X Homozygous short
Genotype ______ X ______

Gametes
At fertilization
Gametes

What is the result of crossing of two heterozygous tall plants.

phenotype ______________ X ______________
Genotype ______ X ______

Gametes
At fertilization Gametes

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If a purple colored pea plant crossed with a white colored. All F1 were purple.
1. Which trait is the dominant ? ___________ . recessive? ____________.
2. Explain your answer in Q1 ? ___________________________________________________.
3. What is the genotype of the purple plant ? ____. of the white plant ? _____.
4. What is the genotype of the F1 plants ? _______.
5. If two F1 plants were crossed, what will be the result? Calculate the ratio of colors.
phenotype ______________ X ______________
Genotype ______ X ______

Gametes
At fertilization
Gametes

A tall pea plant was crossed with a short one. Half F1 were tall, and half short. What is the genotype of
both parents?

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In pea plants, the allele for yellow seeds is dominant to the allele of green seeds. Predict the genotypic
ratio of offspring produced by crossing two parents heterozygous for this trait.

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If a two yellow seeds pea plant were crossed, the results were as following : 298 yellow seeds
plant. 99 green seeds plant.

1. What is the most probably dominant trait ? ___________ recessive trait ? ____________ .
2. What is the expected genotype of the parents ? _______________ .
Complete the following crossings :
Parents Offspring
TT X TT
TT X Tt
TT X tt
Tt X Tt
Tt X tt
tt X tt

Test cross :
Complete :
- Recessive trait has one genotype, so it is always ___________________________.
- Dominant trait can be _______________________ or ______________________.
- ex : short plant is always ________ , but tall plant can be ______ or _____.
How can we tell if a tall pea plant is homo- or heterozygous ?
Test cross : is a cross carried to tell whether the dominant trait is homozygous or heterozygous.
By crossing it with a recessive one.
1. If all offspring are dominant the tested organism is homozygous ( pure )
2. If 50% dominant and 50% recessive : it is heterozygous ( impure )
If black coat colour is dominant over white in guinea pigs. How to tell whether a black colored guinea
pig is homozygous or heterozygous ?

Monohybrid cross in human :

Cystic fibrosis :
Genotype Phenotype
5 CC Normal
Cc carrier
cc sufferer
 Is an inherited disease caused by recessive allele c.
So the person that has two recessive alleles shows the trait.
Carrier is the heterozygous person who does not suffer the disease but may pass the defective
allele on to their child.
What is the probability to have cystic fibrosis child if both parents were carriers?
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Huntington`s disease
Genotype Phenotype
Is an inherited disease caused by dominant allele H . so it is
HH sufferer
enough for a person to show the disease to have one allele only. Hh sufferer
And the normal person is hh. hh normal

What is the probability to have child with Huntington disease if both parents are heterozygous sufferers?
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Compare between the inheritance of cystic fibrosis and Huntington disease in human.

Cystic fibrosis Huntington`s disease

Caused by
Sufferer person
Carrier
Heterozygous person

Incomplete dominance:

In this type of inheritance the two alleles of the gene are equally dominant, and so they are both
expressed in the heterozygous genotype.
Example on incomplete dominant is the inheritance of blood types in human
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 In human there are 4 different blood groups : A , B , AB , O
Blood group is determined by 3 alleles ( IA , IB , i )
Both IA and IB are dominant over i . but none of the IA and IB dominate over the other.

Genotype Phenotype
IA IA, IAi A
IB IB , IBi B
IA IB AB
ii O

Find out the result of the following crosses

AB male with O female
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A male with AB female
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Sex determination :
In human each body ( somatic ) cell contains 46 chromosomes. These chromosomes occur in
homologous pairs. There are 23 homologous pairs of chromosomes in each human cell.
Homologous chromosomes have the same size shape banding pattern and the same genes in the
same location.
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 22 pairs of these chromosomes are identical in male and female, these are the autosome
chromosomes. Only one pair is different between male and female. This is the sex
chromosomes.
Karyotype : arrangement of chromosomes in homologous pairs according to their size, from the
longest to the shortest. The last pair is the sex chromosome.

Female karyotype Male karyotype

By looking for karyotype we can know :

1. Sex of the person.
2. Any chromosomal abnormalities in the person.
The sex chromosome determine the sex of the person.
- Male has : 22 autosome pairs + XY.
- Female has : 22 autosome pairs + XX.
During crossing :
Male X Female
XY x XX

Here the probability for having a male is 50% and female 50%.
Which chromosome is the responsible about sex determination ?
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Which parent is responsible about sex determination ?
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What are the functions of sex chromosomes ?
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 1. ____________________________________.
2. ____________________________________.

Sex-linked traits :
Traits that have their genes carried on sex chromosomes are known as sex-linked traits. The
inheritance of these traits is different from the inheritance of other traits because if the genes were
carried on X chromosome, the female has two copies of the gene and the male has one copy. So the
expression of genes differ in the two.
Examples of the sex-linked traits are : colour blindness, and haemophilia.
color blindness is a sex-linked genetic disease. It is caused by a recessive allele c carried on the
sex chromosome. The dominant allele C results in normal sight.

a ) fill the spaces below to show the possible genotypes of individuals

Normal Carrier Sufferer
Male
Female
b ) What is the result of crossing between :
1. Normal male X colour blinded female.
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2. Colour blinded male X normal female.
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c ) explain using a chosen cross why in sex linked characters the father never
passes six linked genes to his sons but only to his daughters.
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 d ) Explain why in sex linked characters, males have higher probability of
being affected than females.
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Meiosis and genetic variation :

There are two main ways in which genetic variation occurs at meiosis.
1. Random segregation of chromosomes :
At the metaphase-I the pairs of homologous chromosomes arrange at the equator of the cell.
They arrange them selves in a random order. Look at the below
diagram :

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 If a cell has 2 pairs of chromosomes, there are two ways in which the chromosomes arrange at the
equator of the cell. So, 4 different types of gametes produced.
What is the role for that?
Can you work out the number of different types of gametes the human can produce?

2. crossing over :
During prophase-I of meiosis the homologous chromosomes come together in pairs known as
bivalents.
Each chromosome consist of two chromatids.
Two non-sister chromatids of the homologous chromosomes twist around each other and
exchange pieces ( genetic materials ) in a process
known as crossing over.
The site of crossing over is known as chiasmata.
Crossing over resulted in new combination of genes
and this increase the variation between living organisms.
Terminology

Chromosome is a coiled thread of DNA and proteins found in the nucleus.

All cells of the body ( except gametes ) are diploid , they contain two sets of chromosomes.

Gametes are sex cells ( egg and sperm ) are haploid, they contain one set of chromosomes.

DNA substance found in the chromosomes and carry codes for making proteins.
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Gene the unit of inheritance, is a section of DNA which code for making a particular protein.

Locus is a particular position along chromosome where the gene locates.

Alleles are different varieties ( forms ) of a gene, which code for different versions of the same

characteristic

Homologous chromosomes carry genes for the same characteristics in the same position.

Homozygous is an organism that has two similar alleles.

Heterozygous is an organism that has two different alleles.

Dominant allele is an allele which has the same effect on the phenotype of an organism weather

the organism is homozygous or heterozygous for the gene.

Recessive allele is an allele which only shows in the phenotype when no dominant alleles is

present.

Genotype is the alleles that an individual has (Gene make up of the organism

Phenotype is the way the alleles are expressed in the individual ( physical appearance ).

Test cross is a cross carried to determine if the dominant trait is pure or impure.

Incomplete dominance is a type of inheritance where the two alleles are expressed in the

heterozygous.

Sex-linked trait is the trait that has it is genes carried on the sex chromosomes.

Carrier is the heterozygous person who does not suffer the disease but may pass the defective

allele on to their child.

Karyotype is the arrangement of chromosomes in homologous pairs according to their size, from

the longest to the shortest.

Autosomes are the 22 pairs of chromosomes that are identical in male and female.

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Sex chromosomes are the last pair of chromosomes that are different between male and

female.

Cross over : overlapping of two non-sister chromatids of the homologous chromosomes and

exchange of genetic materials during prophase-I

Chiasmata : points where crossing over occurs.

Bivalent : a structure forms when the two homologous chromosomes come together during

prophase-I

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