Heredity and Evolutio

-Chapter 9
- Biology
 INTRODUCTION
A recognizable feature of a human being ( or any other
organism) like height, complexion, shape of nose and
chin, colour of eye and hair etc are called characters or
traits.
The transmission of traits from the parents to their
offspring is called heredity.
The hereditary information is present in the gametes of
the parents. Thus, gametes constitute the link between
one generation and the next, and pass on the maternal
and paternal characters or traits to the offspring.
 VARIATIONS
The differences in the characters (or traits) among the individuals
of a species is called variation.
The offspring is never a true copy of the parent.

There are many kinds of variations in human species like:-

Free and attached earlobes.
Different complexions ( Dark, Light brown, Dusky, Wheatish, Fair etc.)
Blonde
Different eye colour ( Brown, Hazel, Blue, Green, Grey, Amber etc.) Hair
Height ( tall or short)
Chin (cleft or pointed)
Hair colour ( Black, Brown, Blonde, Red, Golden etc.)
Hair type ( curly, wavy, Straight etc.)
Nose ( Snub, Thin, Pointed etc.)
Brown Hair

Hazel eye colour Blue eye

 ACCUMULATION OF
VARIATIONS
The significance of a variation shows up only if
it continues to be inherited by the offspring for
several generations.
The great advantage of variation to a species is
that it increases the chances of its survival
in a changing environment.
 IMPORTANT TERMS
Chromosome : It is a thread-like structure in the nucleus of a cell formed
of DNA which carries the genes.
Gene : It is a unit of DNA on chromosome which governs the synthesis of
one protein that controls a specific characteristic of an organism. Genes are
actually units of heredity which transfer characteristics from parents to their
offsprings during reproduction.
Dominant Gene : The gene which decides the appearance of an organism
even in the presence of an alternative contrasting gene is known as a
dominant gene. It is represented by a capital letter.
Recessive gene : The gene which can decide the appearance of an
organism only in the presence of another identical gene is called a recessive
gene. It is represented by the corresponding small letter.
Genotype : It is the description of genes present in an organism.
Phenotype : It is the characteristic which is visible in an organism .
First Filial Generation or F1 Generation : When two parents cross to
produce offsprings, their offspring is called First Filial generation or F1
generation.
Second Filial Generation or F2 Generation : When the first generation
offsprings cross among themselves to produce second generation offsprings,
then this offspring is called Second Filial Generation or F2 Generation.
MENDELS EXPERIMENTS
Gregor Mendel was the first scientist to make a
systematic study of patterns of inheritance which involved
the transfer of characteristics from parents to progeny.

Mendel chose pea plants for studying inheritance because

pea plants had a number of clear cut differences which
were easy to tell apart. For ex : tall and dwarf pea plants.
Some pea plants produced round yellow seeds while
others produced wrinkled green seeds etc.

Another reason for choosing pea plants was that they were
self pollinating. Also, Mendel chose pea plants because
many generations of pea plants can be produced in a
comparatively short time span and their study is much
simpler than that of animals.
LAW OF SEGREGATION
Mendel's first law of inheritance or the Law of
Segregation : The characteristics (or trait) of an
organism are determined by internal factors which
occur in pairs. Only one such factor can be present in a
single gamete.
LAW OF INDEPENDENT
ASSORTMENT
Mendels second law of inheritance or Law of Independent Assortment
states that In the inheritance of more than one pair of traits in a cross
simultaneously, the factors responsible for each pair of traits are distributed
independently to the gametes.
TRANSMISSION OF TRAIT
The characteristics or traits of parents are transmitted to their offsprings
through genes present on their chromosomes during the process of sexual
reproduction.

Genes work in pairs. For every trait there is a pair of genes ( one dominant
and one recessive). Each parent passes only one of the two genes of the
pair for each characteristic.

Though the offspring inherits two genes for each trait from its parents but
the trait shown by the offspring depends on which inherited gene is
dominant of the two.
 GENES
When a male gamete fuses with a female gamete
during fertilization, they make a new cell called zygote
with a full set of genes (on a full set of chromosomes) .
This zygote grows & develops to form a new organism
having characteristics (or traits) from both the parents
which it has inherited through genes.
The two genes (or pair of genes) responsible for a
particular characteristics are always present on the
corresponding positions of the pair of chromosomes .
BLOOD GROUPS
A person has one of the four blood groups: A, B, O, AB.
A and B are co-dominant genes whereas O is a recessive
gene.
The genes for blood groups are denoted by: IA ( A in
superscript), IB etc.
If the genotype is IA IA or IA IO, then the blood group is A.
If the genotype is IB IB or IB IO, then the blood group is B.
If the genotype is IO IO, then the blood group is O.
SEX DETERMINATION
The process by which the sex of a
person is determined is called sex
determination .
The chromosomes which determine the sex
of a person are called sex chromosomes .
Sex chromosome in male is XY and in
female it is XX
If a sperm carrying X chromosome fertilizes
an ovum then the child born will be a girl .
If a sperm carrying Y chromosome fertilizes
an ovum then the child born will be a boy .
It is the sperm which determines the sex of a
child .
CQUIRED AND INHERITE
TRAITS
A trait of an organism which is not inherited but develops in
response to the environment is called an acquired trait.
Acquired traits cannot be passed on to the future generations.
Ex: Knowledge of doing something or any characteristic which was caused
due to environmental factors and not present by birth .

A trait of an organism which is caused by a change in its DNA or

genes is called an inherited trait.
These are characteristics which we receive from our parents.
Only these traits can be transmitted to future generations.
Ex: Eye colour, skin complexion etc.
 QUESTIONS
1. The epidermal cell of a plant contains 28
chromosomes. How many chromosomes
are there in each gamete produced by the
plant?

2. A pure tall pea plant (TT) is crossed with a

pure dwarf plant (tt). What is the ratio of
pure tall plants to pure short plants in the
F2 generation?

3. What are the visible characters in an

organism known as?

4. Which of the following is an inherited

traits?
eye color, scarred face, skin complexion,
hair texture, size of body.

5. What are the phenotypes of the following

types of hybrid pea seeds.
 ANSWERS
1. 14 chromosomes

2. 1:1

3. Phenotype

4. Eye color is an inherited trait.

Scarred face is not an inherited trait
Skin complexion is an acquired trait, but
environmental factors can also affect skin
complexion of a person.
Hair texture is an inherited trait, but it can be
altered manually.
Size of body is not an inherited trait.

5. (a) Round Green

(b) Wrinkled Yellow
(c) Round Yellow
(d) Round Green
 EVOLUTION
Evolution is the sequence of gradual changes which take place in the
primitive organisms over millions of years in which new species are
produced.

The more characteristics a species have in common, the more closely they
will be related.

Some important sources which provide evidence for evolution are

Homologous, Analogous, Vestigial organs and fossils.

Archaeopteryx which is believed to

be the missing link between
dinosaurs and birds.
HOMOLOGOUS ORGANS
Homologous organ : Organs which have same
fundamental structures but different in functions. Ex:
wings of birds , hands of humans.
ANALOGOUS ORGANS
Analogous organs : Organs which similar functions but
different in their structure. Ex: wings of insects and wings
of birds
 Vestigial organs
Vestigial organs : Organs which are nonfunctional in the
present day forms but were functional in ancestors.
Ex: appendix, wisdom tooth .
The remains of dead animals or plants that lived in the remote past
are known as Fossils.

Fossils are obtained by digging into the Earth. The age of fossils are
estimated by the relative method or carbon dating method.
There are various kinds of fossils. Some important fossils are ammonite,
trilobite and dinosaur.
 DARWINS THEORY
Darwins theory can be described as follows:
Within any population, there is natural variation. Some individuals have
more favorable variations than others.
Even though all species produce a large number of offsprings, populations
remain fairly constant naturally.
This is due to the struggle between members of the same species and
different species for food, space and mate.
The struggle for survival within populations eliminates the unfit individuals.
The fit individuals possessing favorable variations survive and reproduce.
This is called natural selection. The individuals having favorable variations
pass on these variations to their progeny from generation to generation.
These variations when accumulated over a long period of time, lead to the
origin of new species.
 NATURAL SELECTION
Natural selection is the process of evolution of a species whereby
characteristics which help individual organisms to survive and
reproduce are passed on to their offsprings, and those
characteristics which do not help are not passed on.

Though Darwins theory was widely accepted, but it was criticized on the
ground that it could not explain how the variations arise. With the progress
in genetics, the source of variation was explained to be the Genes. Genes
vary in natural population. Genetic variation is the raw material of evolution.
So, Darwins theory was modified accordingly. These days, the most accepted
theory of evolution is the Synthetic theory of evolution. In which the
origin of species is based on both genetic variation and natural selection .
 SPECIATION
A species is a population of organisms consisting of similar
individuals which can breed together and produce fertile offspring.

The process by which new species develop from existing species is known as
speciation.

Important factors which could lead to formation of new species are:

Geographical isolation of a population which leads to reproductive isolation
due to which there is no flow of genes between separated groups of
population.
Genetic drift due to drastic changes in the frequencies of particular genes
by chance alone.
Variations caused in individuals due to natural selection.
 EVOLUTION OF EYES
The eye is a complicated organ which cannot be generated by a single DNA
change.
The complex body organs of animals such as eyes have been created
in stages over many generations.
First of all the basic eye like that of a flatworm which are simple eyespots
which can detect light.
After this, more and more complex eyes were evolved in many organisms.
The structure of eyes in each organism is different.
The evolution of eye is an example of evolution by stages.
EVOLUTION OF FEATHERS
Sometimes an evolutionary change produced in an organism for one purpose
later on becomes more useful for an entirely different function.

For ex: Birds evolved feathers as a means of providing insulation to their

bodies in cold weather but later on these feathers became more useful for
the purpose of flying. Even some dinosaurs had feathers though they could
not fly using feathers. Birds, however adapted feathers for flying. The
presence of feathers on birds tell us that birds are closely related to
dinosaurs.
EVOLUTION BY ARTIFICIA
SELECTION
Different looking organisms can be created from the same basic design of the
ancestors.
This is called Evolution by artificial selection.
For ex: Cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, kohlrabi and kale can be made
artificially from wild cabbage.

When farmers wanted very short distances between the leaves of wild
cabbage, the common variety of cabbage was evolved.
When farmers wanted arrested flower development of wild cabbage,
broccoli was evolved.
When farmers wanted sterile flowers of wild cabbage, cauliflower was
evolved.
When farmers wanted swollen parts of wild cabbage, kohlrabi was evolved.
When farmers wanted to grow large leaves of wild cabbage, kale was
evolved.
 EVOLUTION IS NOT
PROGRESS
There is no real progress in the concept of evolution. Evolution is just the
production of diversity of life forms and shaping of this diversity by
environmental selection. The only progress in evolution is that more and
more complex organisms have emerged over ages.

It is a common belief that chimpanzees are the ancestors of human beings.

This is not true. Actually, both chimpanzees and human beings had a
common ancestor long time ago.
 HUMAN EVOLUTION
Human evolution has been studied using various tools of tracing evolutionary
relationships like excavating, carbon-dating, studying fossils and determining
DNA sequences.

All human beings are a single species called Homo Sapiens.

It has now been established by research that the earliest members of the
human species came from Africa. So, irrespective of where we have lived for
past thousand years, we all have African roots.
 ORIGIN OF LIFE
Darwins theory of evolution tells us how life evolved from simple to more
complex forms and Mendels experiments give us the mechanism for the
inheritance of traits from one generation to the next. But neither tells us
anything about how life began on earth in the first place.
QUESTIONS
1. Which variety of cabbage evolved due to
the farmers opting for swollen parts of
wild cabbage?

2. What is the science of heredity known

as?

3. What is the scientific names of humans?

4. State one characteristic which shows tat

birds are closely related to dinosaurs.

5. Name the animal which was the link

between reptiles and birds.

6. Did human beings evolve from

chimpanzees ? Why / Why not ?

7. Name one way how the age of fossils are

estimated.
 ANSWERS
1. Kohlrabi.

2. Genetics

3. Homo sapiens

4. Some dinosaurs had feathers though they could

not fly using these feathers. The presence of
feathers on birds tell us that the birds are closely
related to dinosaurs.

5. Archaeopteryx

6. Human beings have not evolved from

chimpanzees. Actually, both human beings and
chimpanzees had a common ancestor a long time
ago.

7. Carbon-dating method or Relative method.

Made By:
Athira
Hrutubala
Keerthi
Neha
Hrishitaa
Ameesha