GRADE X-BIOLOGY

TOPIC-HEREDITY AND EVOLUTION

1 What is meant by heredity?
The transmission of characters or traits from the parents to the off springs.
2 What do What do you mean by the term variation?
The difference in traits among the individuals of a species.
3 Name two human traits, which show variation?
i) Height in humans (Very tall, less tall, medium height, short height and very short)
ii) Attached and free ear lobes in humans.
4. Which of the processes, sexual reproduction or asexual reproduction, brings about maximum
variation in the off springs? Why?
In asexual reproduction, only one parent is involved. Hence a minor amount of variation can
produce only by the error in DNA copying. In sexual reproduction, two parents are involved. Two
parents contribute the offspring’s genotype and hence chances of variations are high.
5 State the advantages of variations to a species?
i) It increases the chances of its survival in a changing environment.
ii) It is a tool for evolution.
6 If a trait ‘A’ exists 10% of a population of an asexually reproducing species and a trait ‘B’ exists in
60% of the same population, which trait is like to have arisen earlier?
Trait ‘B’.
7 Name the first scientist who studied the inheritance of traits from one generation to the next?
Gregor.J.Mendel.
8 Why did Mendel choose pea plants (Pisum sativum) for conducting his experiments?
Pea can be termed as biennial plant, i.e. two generations of pea plant can grow in given year. Hence
he could get enough time to observe a large number of generations.
It shows many contrasting traits.
It is a self-pollinating plant but can be cross-pollinated easily.
9 Explain with an example, how genes control the characteristics or traits?
A gene is a segment of DNA, which codes for the formation of a protein controlling a specific trait
of the organism
Eg: Suppose a plant progeny has gene for the characteristic called ‘tallness’. The gene for tallness
produces a lot of growth hormones. And due to the formation of excess plant growth hormones, the
plant will grow too much and hence becomes tall.
The gene for dwarfness produces less growth hormone; hence, the plants are shorter.
10 10. What is monohybrid cross?
The cross in which a pair of contrasting traits is studied is called monohybrid cross. Mendel did
monohybrid cross for his first experiment. Based on this experiment, Mendel proposed the first law
of inheritance
LAW OF SEGREGATION:
Every trait in an individual is determined by a pair of alleles. During gamete formation, these
alleles get separated in such a way that each gamete receives only one allele from the pair of alleles
which determines a trait.
11 How do Mendel’s experiments show that traits may be dominant or recessive?
The trait that appears in the hybrid is the dominant one.
Eg: When tall pea plants cross with dwarf pea plant, all the F1 hybrids are tall showing that
tallness is dominant and shortness is recessive.

Parents: Tall X Dwarf

TT tt

Gametes TT
t

F1 generation Tt (phenotype is tall as ‘T’ is dominant over ‘t’)

F1 is selfed to rise F2 generation.

Gametes T t
T TT Tt
t Tt tt

Monohybrid phenotypic ratio - Tall : Dwarf = 3 : 1

Monohybrid genotypic ratio – TT : Tt: tt = 1 : 2 : 1

12 What is dihybrid cross? Explain.

The cross in which two pairs of characters are studied is called dihybrid cross. In the second
experiment, Mendel used dihybrid cross; he chose Colour and shape of the seeds

Colour- Green (yy) and yellow seeds (YY)

Shape- Round (RR) and wrinkled (rr)

He crossed Round and Green seeds (RRyy) with Wrinkled and Yellow seeds (rrYY)

Parents -> Round Green x Wrinkled Yellow

RRyy x rrYY

Gametes x Ry rY

F1 generation (Round and Yellow) RrYy

ROUND YELLOW – Dominant trait
 F1 generation is self-pollinated to produce F2 generation.

Parents → RrYy (Round and Yellow)

RY Ry rY ry
Gametes →

F2 Generation:
Male Gamete
→
RY Ry rY ry

Female Gamete
RRYY RRYy RrYY RrYy
RY Round & Yellow Round & Round & Yellow Round & Yellow
Yellow
RRYy RRyy RrYy Rryy
Ry Round & Yellow Round & Green Round & Yellow Round & Green
RrYY RrYy rrYY rrYy
rY Round & Yellow Round & Wrinkled & Wrinkled & Yellow
Yellow Yellow

RrYy Rryy rrYy rryy

ry Round & Yellow Round & Green Wrinkled & Wrinkled & Green
Yellow

Round Yellow – 9

RRYY

RrYY
- The genotype of Round & Green seed is RRyy.
RrYy - The genotype of Wrinkled & Yellow is rrYY.
- In the F1 generation, all offsprings were Round &
Round Green - 3 Yellow (RrYy) because Roundness and Yellow
was dominant over wrinkled and green traits.
RRyy
- In the F2 generation produced round and yellow,
Rryy round and green, wrinkled and green, and wrinkled
and yellow in the ratio 9:3:3:1.
Wrinkled Yellow - 3

rYY

rrYy

rryy Wrinkled Green – 1

 Mendel’s Second Law
The Law of Independent Assortment:

When two or more characteristics are inherited, individual hereditary factors assort independently during
gamete production, giving different traits an equal opportunity of occurring together.

Q13. The gene for red hair is recessive to the gene for black hair. What will be the hair colour of a
person if he inherits a gene for red hair from his mother and gene for black hair from his father?

Ans: As the black hair is dominant over red hair, the person will have black hair.

Parents → BB x bb

Black Red

Gametes→

Bb (black)
Q14. In humans, if gene ‘B’ gives for brown eyes and gene ‘b’ gives blue eyes, what will be the colour
of eyes of the persons having the following combination of genes: a) Bb b) bb c) BB

Ans: a) Bb → Brown eyes(Gene ‘B’ is dominant) b) bb → Blue eyes ( Gene ‘b’ is recessive)

c) BB → Brown eyes ( Gene ‘B’ is dominant)

15. What are genes? Where are they located in our body?

Ans: Genes are the segments of DNA that control the expression of traits in organisms. They are located in
the chromosomes present in the nucleus of a cell.

Q16. Pure – bred pea plants ‘A’ are crossed with pure – bred pea plants ‘B’. It was found that the
plant which looks like ‘A’ do not appear in the F1 generation but re-emerge in F2 generation. Which
of the plants A and B are: i) Tall ii)Dwarf. ive reasons for your answer.

Ans: Plants B are tall, because it appears in the F1 generation which indicates that plant B contains the
dominant gene i.e. tallness. Plant A is dwarf because it appears only in F2 generation which indicates that
plant A contains the recessive gene i.e. dwarfness.

Parents →Plant A X Plant B F1 is selfed

tt TT

F1 generation
Tt Tallness
 Q18. Which are the four blood groups in man ?

1) Group A – [AA or AO] 2) Group B -- [BB or BO] 3) Group AB –[AB]

4) Group O – [OO]

Q19. A man having blood group A marries a woman having blood group O and they have a child. What
will be the blood group of the child?
Ans- The answer depends on whether the blood group A of a man has gene combination AA or AO.
(a) When the blood group A has genotype AA
In this case the genotype of the man’s blood is AA and that of the woman’s blood is OO. So the
child will have blood group A. (because the gene A is dominant over O).
(b) When the blood group A has genotype AO
Here the genotype of the man’s blood is AO and that of the woman’s blood is OO. So in this case there is an
equal chance that the genotype of the child’s blood can be either AO. Due to this there is an equal chance of the
child acquiring blood group A or blood group O.
20. A man having a blood group O marries a woman having blood group B, and they have a daughter.
What will be the blood group of the daughter?
The answer depends on whether the woman with blood group ‘B’ has gene combination BB or BO.

21. What is a sex chromosome? What is sex determination?

A- The chromosomes which determine the sex of a person are called sex chromosomes. There are two types of
sex chromosomes. One is ‘X’ chromosome and the other is ‘Y’ chromosome.
A Male has one ‘X’ and the other is ‘Y’ chromosome. (XY)
A Female has two ‘X’ chromosomes (XX). The process by which the sex of a person is determined is called
sex determination.

22. Explain how sex is determined in human beings?

A- Human cells have 46 chromosomes (23 pairs). Among that 22 pairs of chromosomes are called autosomes,
determine al the traits other than sex.
The 23rd pair of chromosomes (1 pair) determines the sex of a person. In females, the sex chromosomes are’XX’
and in males ‘XY’.
All the eggs (female gametes) contain one ‘X’ chromosome and the sperms (male gametes) have either ‘X’ or
‘Y’ chromosome.
When the sperm with ‘X’ chromosome fertilizes the egg (X), the zygote is female i.e. XX.
When the sperm with ‘Y’ chromosome fertilizes the egg (X), then the zygote is male i.e. XY.

Parents: Male Female

XY XX

Gametes: X Y X X

XX XY
Girl Boy

23. How is sex determined in the following animals?

a. Turtle (Reptile) b. Lizard c. Snails

Ans:- a) Turtle : The sex is also controlled by environmental factors. The temperature at which the fertilized egg
is incubated before hatching, plays a role in determining the sex of the offspring. If the egg is at high incubation
temperature, then more female offspring are produced.

b) In lizards, high incubation temperature produces more male offspring.

c) Snails can change sex, indicating that sex is not determined genetically.

24. What is meant by acquired and inherited traits? Explain with one example each.
A: Acquired traits
• A trait of an organism which is not inherited but develops in response to the environment is called
an acquired trait.
• The acquired traits are not inheritable because these traits hardly make any changes in the genes
present in the reproductive cells of the parent organism.
Eg. If a beetle does not get enough food for a considerable time, its weight will be reduced due to
starvation. This low weight doesn’t make any changes in the genes present in the reproductive cells. Hence
they are not inheritable.

Inherited traits

A trait of an organism which is caused by a change in its reproductive genes is called an inherited trait.

Eg. Suppose there is a population of red beetles in the green bushes. Again suppose that a colour variation
arises during reproduction so that 1 beetle is green in colour. This change into green colour in beetle has
been brought about by a change in the gene of the reproductive cells. Hence the green colour can be passed
onto the next generation. . Only the lethal or extremely harmful variations are eliminated, rest of them
exist in a population.