GENES AND INHERITANCE

Introduction
Genes are sections of DNA that determine a particular feature by instructing cells to produce particular
proteins.

DNA is a part of chromosome that determines a particular feature.

Gregor Mendel did a ground – breaking research that uncovered the basic rules of how features are inherited
was carried out.

He studied mice and then garden pea. He is therefore termed as the father of genetics.

Mendel established that for each feature he studied:

✓ A heritable unit (gene) is passed from one generation to the rest.

✓ The inheritable unit can have two alternate forms(alleles)
✓ Each individual must have two alternative forms of alleles per feature.ie
TT(tall),Tt (heterozygous tall) or tt ( short)
✓ The sex cells only have one of the alternate form (allele) per feature.
✓ One allele can be dominant over the other (which is then termed as recessive)

He was able to use his ideas to predict outcomes from breeding certain types of pea plant and then test his
predictions by experiment.

Why did very few people in Mendel time take notice of his work

i) By the time , biologists had little knowledge of chromosomes and cell division hence his idea had no physical
basis.

ii) By then biology was very much a descriptive science and biologists of the day were not interested in the
mathematical treatment of results.

iii) Mendel's work went against the idea of the time that inheritance resulted from some kind of blending of
features. The idea of a distinct 'heritable unit just did not fit in'.

later 1900 other biologists working on inheritance rediscovered Mendel's work and recognised its importance.

1903 connective between Mendel's suggested behavior of genes and the behavior of chromosomes in meiosis
was noticed.

Mendel's experiments on inheritance

Mendels chose garden pea because it had contrasting features.ie the feature of pea plants had just two
alternate form(had no intermediate) :

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 ✓ Height- tall or dwarf
✓ Colour of flower- purple or white (no pale purple flower)
✓ Seed colour –yellow or green ( no green/yellow seed).
✓ Seed shape – round or wrinkled
✓ Pod shape- inflated or constricted
✓ Pod colour – green or yellow

Reasons for Mendel's success

• He used only plants that had bred true (pure breed)Any tall pea plant used came from generations of
pea plants that had all been tall.
• Mendel's investigated systemically the results of breeding plants that had contrasting features.
• He transferred pollen grains from one experimental plant to another. He made sure that the plants
could be self-fertilised.

Results of his experiment

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 Genotype Tt Tt Tt tt

Tall plant (Tt ) Tall plant (Tt)

genotype TT Tt Tt tt

phenotype Tall Tall Tall dwarf

Phenotypic ratio 3 tall 1 short

Conclusion of Mendel's experiment

i) All plants of F1 generation were always of just one kind , which was not a blebd of the two parental
feature , but one or the other. Examples- When tall and dwarf parents were cross – bred , f1 plants were
always all tall.

ii) There was always a 3:1 ratio of type in the F2 generation.

Three- quarters in the F2 generation were of the type that appeared in the F1 generation.

One –quarter showed the other features.

Mendel was able to use these patterns in his results to work out how features were inherited ,without any
knowledge of gens and chromosomes.

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 Terms used

i) Genotype - is the alleles each cell has for a certain feature,e.g.TT,Tt or tt.

-It’s the genetic constitution.

ii) Phenotype- It’s the feature that results from the genotype e.g. a tall plant.

-It’s the observable features in an organization.

The genotype of an organism is represented by two letters , each letter represent one allele of the gene that
controls the feature.

The initial letter of dominant feature are used to represent the gene, writing it as as a capital letter indicates
the dominant allele , the lower case letter represents the recessive allele for feature.For height alleles used
are T and t.

T- for tall and t –for dwarf.

iii) Allele – its alternate from of a gene i.e. TT,Tt or tt

iv) Homozygous – are alike alleles i.e. TT(dominant) or tt (recessive )

v) Heterozygous –are different pair of alleles i.e. Tt

vi) Dominant gene – a gene that is expressed both in homozygous and heterozygous state i.e. TT or Tt
represent gene for tallness.

vii) Recessive gene-a gene that is only expressed phenotypically in homozygous state i.e. tt – for dwarfness

IF both parents are pure breeding; Tall parent has two alleles for tallness(TT) and dwarfness (tt) in each
cell.Sex cells are formed from meiosis and contains one of each alleles.

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Phenotype of parents Tall Dwarf Both parents are pure breed

Tall parent has two alleles for

Genotype of parents TT tt tallness and dwarf parent has
two allele for dwarfness.They
are homozygous.
Gametes (sex cells) T t The Sex cells are formed by
osmosis and each cell has only
one allele each
Genotype of F1 Tt F1 plants are heterozygous; one
tall allele and one dwarf allele
Phenotype of F1 all tall

The F1 plants are allowed to self –fertilise

Gametes from the F1 plants male gametes Female gametes

F1 plants T or t T or t Sex cells are formed by meiosis and so

have only one allele.F1 plants are
heterozygous.

Genotype of F2

Female gametes

T t
TT Tt
T
Male gametes Using the punnett square one can work
Tt tt out the results of a genetic cross.
t

Genotypes 1TT:2Tt:1tt

Phenotypes of F2 3 tall : 1 dwarf

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Remember that the genetic ratio such as 3:1 are predicted ratios. In breeding experiments the actual
numbers of offspring are unlikely to exactly fit a 3:1 ratio.

Reasons for this could be:

- Some pollen may not fertilise some ova

- Some seedlings may die before they mature(these are chance events)

WORKING OUT GENOTYPES – THE TEST CROSS

✓ Its difficulty to tell be just looking at a plant whether a tall pea plant is homozygous(TT) or
heterozygous (Tt).
✓ Both genotype would appear equally tall because the tall allele is dominant.
✓ The test cross is a breeding experiment carried out to tell the genotype of the parents.
✓ In a test cross , the factor (gene) under investigation is the unknown genotype of an organism showing
the dominant feature.
✓ In a test cross , you breeding an organism showing the dominant feature with one showing the
recessive feature.The results of the breeding experiment are compared with the predicted outcomes
to see which one matches most closely.
✓ In the experiment the 'unknown' tall pea plant( TT or Tt ) is bred with a dwarf pea plant(tt)

Phenotype of parents Tall Dwarf

Genotype of parents TT tt or Tt tt

Gametes (sex cells) T t

or T
and t t

t
t

Tt T
T Tt
t
tt
Conclusion

i) All the offspring to be tall if the tall parent was homozygous

ii) Half the offspring to be tall and half to be dwarf if the tall parent was heterozygous(Tt).

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WAYS OF PRESENTING GENTIC INFORMATION

i) using genetic cross

ii) Pedigree- It’s a diagram used to show a proper family history of a genetic condition.

Polydactyl is an inherited condition in which a person developments an extra digit (finger or toes) on the
hands or feet.

Its determined by a dominant allele. Recessive allele causes the normal number of digits to develop.

Use symbol D for polydactyly allele and d for the normal number allele.

The possible genotypes and phenotypes are;

• DD- person has polydactyly (two dominant polydactyly allele)

• Dd- Person has Polydactyly( a dominant and a recessive alleles)
• dd- person has the normal number of digits (Has two recessive )

A pedigree showing the inheritance of polydactyly in a family.

Analysis of the Pedigree

i. There are Four generations shown (individuals are arranged in four horizontal)
ii. Individuals 4, 5, and 6 are children of individuals 1nad 2 (a family line connects each one directly to 1
and 2)
iii. Individuals 4 is the First born child of 1 and 2 (First born to the left and second born to the right of this)
iv. Individuals 3 and 7 are not children of 1nad 2 (No family line connects them directly to 1 and 2)

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 v. 3 and 4 are father and mother of the same children as are 1 and 2, 6and 7 ,7and 8, 9 and 12 ,13 and 14
and 15 (horizontal line joins them)
✓ In the pedigree above 1and 2 both have polydactyly, but children 4 and 6 do not.
✓ The normal alleles in 4 and 6 can only have come their parents (1 and 2) and so 1 and 2 have normal
alleles.
✓ 1 and 2 show polydactyly , so they must have polydactyly alleles as well.
✓ If they have both polydactyly allele and normal alleles but show polydactyly , the polydactyly allele
must be the dominant allele.
✓ All people with the normal numbers of digits must have the genotype dd (if they had even one d
allele, they would show polydactyly).
✓ All the people with polydactyly must have at least one poldactyl allele (they must be either DD or Dd)
✓ People with normal number of digits must inherit one normal number allele from each parent, and also
that people with the normal number of digit will pass on one normal number allele to each of their
childen.
✓ Any person with polydactyly who has children with the normal number of digits must be heterozygous
(the child must have inherited one of their two normal number allele from their parent ) and also that
any person with the polydactyly who has one parent with the normal number of digits must also be
heterozygous (the normal parent can only passed on a normal-number allele ).

Individuals 1,2,3 ,16,17 and 18 fall into one or both of these categories and must be heterozygous.

Adding genetic information to the pedigree

• Genotype of 5 , 8 and 12 has uncertainty that is could be homozygous or heterozygous.

• Individual 1 and 2 are both heterozygous
• Individual 5 and could be any of the outcomes indicated by shading.
• Its impossible to distinguish between DD and Dd.

Possible outcomes from a genetic cross between two parents , both heterozygous for polydactyly.

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