10 Heredity Notes

VIVEK HIGH SCHOOL, CHANDIGARH
HEREDITY NOTES
Some important terms

1. Chromosomes are long thread-like structures present in the nucleus of a cell
which contain hereditary information of the cell in the form of genes.
2. DNA is a chemical in the chromosome which carries the traits in a coded

form.
3. Gene is the part of a chromosome that controls a specific biological function.
4. Contrasting characters: A pair of visible characters such as tall and dwarf,

white and violet flowers, round and wrinkled seeds, green and yellow seeds
etc.
5. Alleles are different forms of the same gene. ... An example of alleles for
flower colour in pea plants are the dominant purple allele, and the recessive
white allele; for height they are the dominant tall allele and recessive
short allele.
6. Homozygous: A condition in which both the genes received from both the
parents are of same type for example; an organism has both the genes for
tallness it is expressed as TT and genes for dwarfness are written as tt.
7. Heterozygous: A condition in which both the genes received from both the
parents are of different types for example; an organism has genes Tt it means
it has a gene for tallness from one parent and the other for dwarfness from
other parent but only tall character is expressed as it is a dominant gene.
8. Dominant trait: The character which expresses itself if it is present in both

homozygous as well as heterozygous condition in a (F1) generation is dominant
trait. Example : Tallness is a dominant character in pea plant.
Dr. Shaveta/ Biology/ X/ Notes

9.. Recessive trait: The character which does not express itself in the presence
of the dominant trait but is able to express only if present in the homozygous
form is recessive trait. Ex. dwarfism in the pea plant.
10. Genotype: It is genetic make up of an individual, in a gene pair what type of

genes have been received from the parents for example; A pure tall plant is
expressed as TT and hybrid tall as Tt.
11. Phenotype: It is external appearance of the organism for example; a plant

having Tt composition will appear tall although it has gene for dwarfness.
12. Homologous pair of characters are those in which one member is

contributed by the father and the other member by the mother and both have
genes for the same character at the same position.
Mendel’s work
 Gregor Johann Mendel, known as ‘Father of Genetics’, was an Austrian

Monk who worked on pea plants to understand the concept of heredity.
 His work laid the foundation of modern genetics.
 He made three basic laws of inheritance – The Law of Dominance, The

Law of Segregation and The Law of Independent Assortment.
The reason of choosing garden pea for experiment was-
 Short life cycle
 Large number of seeds produced
 Self-pollination/cross pollination
 Several contrasting characters can be found
Mendel’s Experiment: Mendel started his experiment on the pea plants. He

conducted first monohybrid and then dihybrid crosses.
Monohybrid Cross: The cross in which Mendel showed inheritance of

dominant and recessive characters by studying one character only at a time is a
monohybrid cross. To observe inheritance of single pair of contrasting
characters.
He took pure tall (genotype TT) and pure dwarf (genotype tt) pea plants and
cross pollinated them to obtain first generation or first filial generation.

In this figuration (F1 generation) he obtained only tall plants. This meant that
only one of the parental traits was seen, not the mixture of the two. The plants
of F1 generation or progeny are then self-pollinated to obtain F2 generation or
progeny.
Now all plants were not tall. He obtained 75% tall plants and 25% dwarf plants
i.e. the phenotypic ratio was 3:1. This indicates that in the F1, generation both
tall and dwarf traits were inherited but tallness expressed it self. Tallness is a
dominant trait and dwarfness is a recessive trait. F2 generation has a genotypic
ratio of 1 : 2 : 1 of three types of plants represented by TT, Tt and tt as shown
in the cross.
Conclusion: Phenotypic ratio—F2 Generation= Tall : Dwarf 3 : 1

Genotype ratio—Pure Tall : Hybrid Tall : Pure Dwarf 1 : 2 : 1
Law of Dominance: When parents having pure contrasting characters are

crossed then only one character expresses itself in the F1 generation. This

character is the dominant character and the character/factor which cannot
express itself is called the recessive character.
Law of Segregation says that traits get segregated completely during the
formation of gametes without any mixing of alleles.
Dihybrid Cross: Mendel also carried out experiments to observe inheritance of

two pairs of contrasting characters, which is called dihybrid cross. He cross
breed pea plants bearing round green seed with plants bearing wrinkled and
yellow seeds.
In the F1 generation he obtained all round and yellow seeds it means round
and yellow traits of seeds are dominant features while wrinkled and green are
recessive.
He self-pollinated the plants of F: generation to obtain F2 generation, he

obtained four different types of seeds round yellow, round green, wrinkled
yellow and wrinkled green in the ratio of 9 : 3 : 3 : 1. He concluded that traits
are independently inherited

Conclusion
 Round and yellow seeds-9.

 Round and green seeds-3.
 Wrinkled and yellow seeds-3.
 Wrinkled and green seeds-1.
Law of Independent Assortment says that the traits can segregate

independently of different characters during gamete formation.
How do traits get expressed?

Cellular DNA is the information source for making proteins in the cell.
A part of DNA that provides information for one particular protein is called a
gene for that protein for example; the height of a plant depends upon the
growth hormone which is in turn controlled by the gene. If the gene is efficient
and more growth hormone is secreted the plant will grow tall. If the gene for
that particular protein gets altered and less of it is secreted when the plant will
remain short. Both the parents contribute equally to the DNA of next
generation during sexual reproduction. They actually contribute a copy of the
same gene for example; when tall plant is crossed with short plant the gametes
will have single gene either for tallness or for shortness. F1 generation will get
one gene for tallness and other for shortness also.
How do germ cells i.e. gametes get single set of genes from parents who have
two copies in them ?
Each gene set is present, not as a single long thread of DNA, but as separate
independent pieces each called a chromosome. Each cell gets two copies of
the chromosome, one from each parent. Each germ cell or gamete has one
copy of it because there is reductional division in the sex organs at the time of
formation of gametes. When fertilization takes place normal number of
chromosomes is restored in the progeny ensuring the stability of DNA of the
species.
How is the sex of a newborn individual determined?

It is the process by which sex of a newborn can be determined.
Different species use different strategies for this :

 In some animals the temperature at which fertilized eggs are kept
determines whether the developing animals will be males or
females.
 Some animals like snails can change sex indicating that sex is not
genetically determined.
 In human beings sex of the individual is determined genetically;
means genes inherited from the parents decide the sex of the
offspring.
Sex determination in human beings: In human beings, all chromosomes are

not paired. 22 chromosomes are paired but one pair called sex chromosome is
odd in not having a perfect pair in males. Females have a perfect pair both
represented by XX. On the other hand males have a normal sized X but the
other is short called Y so it is shown as XY. All gametes or ova formed by the
homogenetic female are similar i.e. have X chromosome. Males heterogenetic
form two types of sperms i.e. half with X chromosome and the other half with
Y chromosome. Sex of the baby will depend on fertilization. There are two
possibilities :
Autosomes: Those chromosomes which do not play any role in sex

determination.
Sex chromosomes: Those chromosomes which play a role in determining sex

of the newborn.

 If the sperm having X chromosome fertilizes with ovum with X
chromosome then the baby will have XX chromosome and it will be
female.
 If the sperm having Y chromosome fertilizes with ovum with X
chromosome then the baby will have XY chromosomes and it will
be male.

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VIVEK HIGH SCHOOL, CHANDIGARH

Some important terms

2. DNA is a chemical in the chromosome which carries the traits in a coded

3. Gene is the part of a chromosome that controls a specific biological function.

4. Contrasting characters: A pair of visible characters such as tall and dwarf,

8. Dominant trait: The character which expresses itself if it is present in both

Dr. Shaveta/ Biology/ X/ Notes

10. Genotype: It is genetic make up of an individual, in a gene pair what type of

11. Phenotype: It is external appearance of the organism for example; a plant

12. Homologous pair of characters are those in which one member is

 Gregor Johann Mendel, known as ‘Father of Genetics’, was an Austrian

 He made three basic laws of inheritance – The Law of Dominance, The

Mendel’s Experiment: Mendel started his experiment on the pea plants. He

Monohybrid Cross: The cross in which Mendel showed inheritance of

Dr. Shaveta/ Biology/ X/ Notes

Conclusion: Phenotypic ratio—F2 Generation= Tall : Dwarf 3 : 1

Law of Dominance: When parents having pure contrasting characters are

Dr. Shaveta/ Biology/ X/ Notes

Dihybrid Cross: Mendel also carried out experiments to observe inheritance of

He self-pollinated the plants of F: generation to obtain F2 generation, he

Dr. Shaveta/ Biology/ X/ Notes

 Round and yellow seeds-9.

Law of Independent Assortment says that the traits can segregate

How do traits get expressed?

How is the sex of a newborn individual determined?

Different species use different strategies for this :

Dr. Shaveta/ Biology/ X/ Notes

Sex determination in human beings: In human beings, all chromosomes are

Autosomes: Those chromosomes which do not play any role in sex

Sex chromosomes: Those chromosomes which play a role in determining sex

Dr. Shaveta/ Biology/ X/ Notes

Dr. Shaveta/ Biology/ X/ Notes

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