Notes of Heredity
Notes of Heredity
Notes of Heredity
1. What is heredity?
Solution: The continuity of features from one generation to another is known as heredity. It
is also defined as the transmission of traits from parents to the offspring.
2. Name the plant on which Mendel performed his experiments.
Solution: Mendel performed his experiments on the plant, Pisum sativum – the garden pea
plant.
3. Define variation.
Solution: Children do not resemble their parents completely. They possess characters
obtained from both the parents. These changes in the phenotypic and genotypic characters
are known as variations. Thus, a given population of a species has indefinite variants.
4. How is sex determined in human beings?
Solution: The male sex gametes have X and Y chromosomes, whereas the female sex
gametes have two X chromosomes. When a sperm containing a Y chromosome fuses with
the ovum containing X chromosome, the zygote develops into a male. When a sperm
containing the X chromosome fuses with an ovum containing X chromosome, the zygote
develops into a female. Thus, the sex of an individual is determined by the sex
chromosomes X and Y, which is present in the male chromosomes.
5. State three laws of Mendel.
Solution: Mendel’s law-
a. Law of dominance- When two distinct character factors are present in an organism,
only one (dominant factor) manifests itself, while the other (recessive factor)
remains unexpressed.
b. Principle of segregation –At the moment of gamete formation, two elements of a
character are separated, and each gamete receives only one factor for that
character.
c. Principle of independent assortment-This concept asserts that one pair of
contrasting qualities is independent of the other pair of contrasting traits when two
or more pairs of contrasting traits are inherited.
6. Mention the complement of a sperm and the egg which will determine the birth of a
female child.
Solution: The X chromosome is found in both the sperm and the egg of a female child and
it is the complement of a sperm and the egg which will determine the birth of a female
child.
7. What is the phenotypic ratio obtained by Mendel by monohybrid cross? Answer with the
help of a diagram.
Solution: Mendel's monohybrid cross's phenotypic ratio isa3:1. A monohybrid cross
happens when fertilization occurs between two true-breeding parents who differ
exclusively in the feature being examined, and the resulting offspring are termed
monohybrids. Mendel experimented with seven different forms of monohybrid crosses,
each including opposing features for various phenotypes. The F1 offspring of such crosses
all had one parent's phenotype, but the F2 offspring had a 3:1 phenotypic ratio.
Mendel hypothesized that each parent in a monohybrid cross provided one amongst two
paired unit factors towards each offspring, and that any potential combination of unit
factors seemed equally probable.
9. A woman with blonde curly hair married a man with black soft hair. All of their
children in the first generation had black soft hair but in the next generation, children had
different combinations in the ratio of 9:3:3:1. State the law that governs this Expression.
Solution: The law of independent assortment holds that the factors of various pairs of
opposing traits are unaffected by one another. In terms of selection, they are unrelated to
one another.