NAME: S.

THIRU

KARTHICK

CLASS: 12-C

SUBJECT: BIOLOGY
TOPIC: INHERITANCE AND

VARIATION
 Contents

INTRODUCTION:..........................................................................................................................................3

VARIATION:.................................................................................................................................................3

MENDEL’S LAW OF INHERITANCE:...............................................................................................................4

INHERITENCE OF ONE GENE:...................................................................................................................4

Law of Dominance:..............................................................................................................................5

Law of Segregation:.............................................................................................................................6

INCOMPLETE DOMINANCE:.....................................................................................................................6

CO-DOMINANCE:.....................................................................................................................................7

INHERITANCE OF TWO GENES:................................................................................................................7

i) Law of Independent Assortment:.....................................................................................................8

SEX DETERMINATION:.................................................................................................................................9

Sex Determination in Humans:................................................................................................................9

MUTATION:...............................................................................................................................................10

GENETIC DISORDERS:................................................................................................................................10

1) Mendelian disorders:.........................................................................................................................11

2) Chromosomal disorders:...................................................................................................................11

CONCLUSION:............................................................................................................................................12

BIBLIOGRAPHY:..........................................................................................................................................12
INTRODUCTION:

An elephant gives birth to only an elephant baby, a mango seed only gives rise to a

mango tree, human beings give birth to only young human beings. This kind of continuation of

species by giving birth to individuals with similar heredity or traits is because of inheritance.

Thus, heredity is a process of transmitting heritable traits to young ones by their parents. This

transfer can be conducted through either asexual reproduction or sexual reproduction. The traits

that continue the legacy are found in genes on the chromosomes within the body of an

individual. Genes are the carriers of instructions that could have a similarity to one of their two

parents.

VARIATION:

The difference in DNA among individuals is called a variation in genetics. Mutation,

genetic recombination, crossing over, environmental changes, and other such ways lead to

genetic variation. It is the impact of these on the way genes are expressed.
MENDEL’S LAW OF INHERITANCE:

Mendel performed experiments on Garden

pea in the back of his garden to establish the principle of heredity. For this, he took 14 true-

breeding pea plants with seven distinguishable characters that had two opposite traits. Mendel

called genes “factors” that pass to the offspring from the parents. And the factors (genes) that

coded for a pair of opposite traits were called “alleles”.

INHERITENCE OF ONE GENE:

It is the study of the inheritance of a single

gene (one pair of alleles) controlling a single character. It is also called monohybrid cross or

monogenic inheritance. Mendel conducted experiments of plant hybridization on garden pea (Pisum

sativum). His experiments showed the segregation of a single gene during inheritance. One of his
experiments is with tallness and dwarfness. He crossed a true breeding tall plant with a true breeding

dwarf plant. In the F1 generation, all the off springs were tall. This indicated that tallness is dominant over

dwarf-ness. When he allowed two F1 plants to self-pollinate, both tall and dwarf plants were found in the

F2 generation in an approximate ratio of 3:1.

Based on observations on monohybrid cross, Mendel gave 2 laws of inheritance

i) Law of Dominance

ii)Law of Segregation

Law of Dominance:

In the case of the formation of the heterozygote, one of the alleles

is dominant. And, the dominant allele is expressed in the phenotype. So, when homozygous tall

with (TT) alleles are crossed with dwarf (tt) plants, all the resulting offspring plants are tall and

have the tall dominant trait with genotype Tt.

At the time of gamete formation during meiosis, each allele separates.

So, the characters are passed to gametes without blending. Also, heterozygotes produce different

kinds of gametes while homozygous only have one type.

Incomplete Dominance:

Incomplete dominance is a form of intermediate inheritance in which one

allele for a specific trait is not completely expressed over its paired allele. This results in a third

phenotype in which the expressed physical trait is a combination of the dominant and recessive

phenotypes. Incomplete dominance is seen in cross-pollination experiments between red and

white snapdragon plants. For example, when a plant which is homozygous for red flowers (AA)

is crossed with a plant which is homozygous for white flowers (aa), the plants of the

F1 generation produce pink flowers which is a blend of red and white condition. This result

clearly indicates that neither red flowered condition nor white flowered condition is dominant.

However, when two hybrid plants with pink flowers (Aa) are crossed, the F2 generation plants

show red flowered, pink flowered and white flowered in the ratio 1:2:1.
Co-dominance:

Co-dominance is a form of dominance wherein the alleles of a gene pair

in a heterozygous condition are fully expressed. This results in offspring with a phenotype that is

neither dominant nor recessive. A typical example showing co-dominance is the ABO blood

group system. For instance, a person having A allele and B allele will have a blood type AB

because both the A and B alleles are codominant with each other. Here neither of the two A or B

allele is completely recessive or completely dominant.

INHERITANCE OF TWO GENES:

In a dihybrid cross, the parents carry different pair of alleles for

each trait. One parent carries homozygous dominant allele, while the other one carries

homozygous recessive allele. The offsprings produced after the crosses in the F1 generation are

all heterozygous for specific traits. One of the experiment Mendel did was with colour and the

shape of seeds at a time. He picked the wrinkled-green seed and round-yellow seed and crossed

them. He obtained only round-yellow seeds in the F1 generation. This indicated that round shape
and yellow colour of seeds are dominant in nature. Meanwhile, the wrinkled shape and green

colour of seeds are recessive traits. Then, F1 progeny was self-pollinated. This resulted in four

different combinations of seeds in the F2 generation. They were wrinkled-yellow, round-yellow,

wrinkled-green seeds and round-green in the phenotypic ratio of 9:3:3:1.

Based on observations on dihybrid cross, Mendel gave the law of inheritance.

i) Law of Independent Assortment:

Mendel proposed another set of rules which was based on

the observations he made on dihybrid crosses which are known as Mendel’s Law of Independent

Assortment. This particular law of Mendel states that “when two pairs of traits are combined in a

hybrid, segregation of one pair of characters is independent of the other pair of characters”. In

simple words, this law explains the independent separation of genes. It means that alleles

inherited by progeny from different traits are acquired independently. A simple way to

understand this law is with the help of a Punette square when carried out with two pairs of genes
during the stage of meiosis and egg-production and pollen in the F1 generation of the RrYy

plant.

SEX DETERMINATION:

There are different systems of sex determination present in

different organisms. Henking first observed X chromosome and named it X body. The

chromosomes that determine the development of sexual characters are known as sex

chromosomes and the rest of the chromosomes are known as autosomes. When the male

produces two different kinds of gamete, it is known as male heterogamety.When the female

produces two different kinds of gamete, it is known as female heterogamety.

Sex Determination in Humans:

Females in humans have 2X chromosomes - 1 each

is inherited from either parent and denoted as XX. Males in humans have 1X and 1Y

chromosome, where the X is inherited from the mother and the Y from the father. So, we can say

that it is the father who determines the sex of the child. At the time of spermatogenesis in males,

both types of gametes are produced- one carrying the X chromosome and one carrying the Y. At

the time of fertilization, the sex of the resulting zygote will depend on which gamete of the father

will fuse with the X of the mother. We can, therefore, say that there is a 50% chance that the

child will be a male and 50% that it can be a female.

The process of Mutation is a result of alteration in DNA sequences which then

results in the changes in the phenotype and genotype of an entity. The mutation also brings

variations in DNA along with the recombination. The chromosomal alteration has its negative

effects and causes aberrations or abnormalities. These aberrations or abnormalities are usually

observed in the cancer cells, according to the studies. Another type of mutation that takes place

as a result of changes in a single base pair of DN is called a point mutation. For example,

insertions and deletions of base pairs of DNA along with sickle cell anaemia leads to frameshift

mutations.

GENETIC DISORDERS:

There are many disorders in the human being that are inherited and

caused due to mutation in the gene or alteration in chromosomes.

studying the inheritance pattern of a particular trait present in various generations of individual.

There are two types of genetic disorders:

1) Mendelian disorders:

These are disorders due to alteration in the single gene. It follows

the same inheritance pattern, as per Mendel’s law.

These are the Mendelian disorders,

 Colour blindness
 Cystic fibrosis
 Thalassemia
 Phenylketonuria
 Sickle cell anaemia
 Haemophilia

2) Chromosomal disorders:

These are disorders due to excess, absence or abnormal

arrangement of chromosomes. Chromosomal disorders are of two types:

(i) Aneuploidy- Gain or loss of one or more chromosomes. It is due to failure of segregation of

chromatids during anaphase of meiosis

(ii) Polyploidy- It is often found in plants. This happens due to an increase in the full set of

chromosomes. Failure of cytokinesis results in polyploidy

We have seen about inheritance and sex determination of living beings.

Mendel has given laws for inheritance of one gene and inheritance of two genes. Inheritance for

one gene has 2 laws namely law of dominance and law of segregation. Mendel has given the law

of independent assortment for inheritance of two genes. Incomplete dominance and Co-

dominance are other related concepts discussed here. Sex determination in humans have 50%

chance to be a male and 50% chance to be a female depending upon the gamete which enters.

mutation, genetic disorders and types of genetic disorders are all given above.

Bibliography:

 ncert.nic.in

 studycbse.in

 www.vedantu.com

 www.learncbse.in