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Principles of Genetics and Animal Breeding

This document discusses principles of genetics and animal breeding. It defines genetics as the study of genes, genetic variation, and heredity. Genetics examines how genes are inherited from parents to offspring and passed down through generations. Early animal breeders selected for desirable traits, while Darwin's theory of natural selection explained how traits increase chances of survival. Mendel's experiments with pea plants established foundations of genetics by demonstrating inheritance of distinct traits. The document further details genes, DNA, alleles, mutations and how they influence inheritance of characteristics from parents to offspring.

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Joshua Badong
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151 views18 pages

Principles of Genetics and Animal Breeding

This document discusses principles of genetics and animal breeding. It defines genetics as the study of genes, genetic variation, and heredity. Genetics examines how genes are inherited from parents to offspring and passed down through generations. Early animal breeders selected for desirable traits, while Darwin's theory of natural selection explained how traits increase chances of survival. Mendel's experiments with pea plants established foundations of genetics by demonstrating inheritance of distinct traits. The document further details genes, DNA, alleles, mutations and how they influence inheritance of characteristics from parents to offspring.

Uploaded by

Joshua Badong
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Principles of Genetics and

Animal Breeding
 No two animals are exactly alike. Even
with twins one may be taller, one may be
heavier, or grow faster.
 The two main factors that contribute to
these differences in animals are:
- The environment.
- The genetic make up of the
animal.
What is genetics
 branch of biology concerned with the
study of genes, genetic variation, and 
heredity in organisms
 Study of genes, its inheritance pattern
from the parent into the offspring
 The traveling of genes from
generation to generation
History of genetics

 Farmers and animal breeders have long relied on heredity


to improve the quality of plants and animals by
crossbreeding.
 Acquired characteristics (Jean Baptiste Lamarck (1744-
1829)
 Introduced the idea that plants and animals changed or adapted
as they reacted to changes or new threats in their environment.
 Character that an organism altered or acquired were transmitted
to its offspring
 Natural selection
- Charles Darwin (1809-1882) – theory that species
originated and evolved through generations.
- better adapted members survive longer and produce
more offspring than those who are less well adapted
(survival of the fittest)
- the traits reduces chances for survival and
reproduction would gradually become rare within a species
over generation
 Gregor Mendel (1822-1884) Australian
monk and teacher
 Formulated an accurate account of how
genetic characteristics are transmitted from
one generation to the next
 His work led to the new field of genetics
 Different traits, pea (tall or short)
 The inherited traits of a living organism are determined by distinct
factors (genes) that are transmitted from one generation to the next
 Many characteristics of organisms are determined by the
interaction of a pair of hereditary factors
 The factors in a pair determining a trait may be the same or
different.
when they are different, the dominant form masks the effect of the
other form, which is called recessive
 Organisms with specific traits are produced in predictable numbers
according to statistical rules from one generation to the next
chromosomes
 Cell division – threadlike material
 Contains protein
Genes

 After discovery of chromosomes many scientist suspected that


chromosomes were carriers of the hereditary factors Mendel had
studied
 By early 1900s scientists suggested that each chromosomes carries
many distinct hereditary units that determine the characteristics of a
plant or animal. (genes)
DNA

 For many years, scientist believed that protein was the genetic
material inside chromosomes
 Oswald Avery (1944)
when DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid), a substance present in
chromosomes of all living cells, was transferred from one bacterium to
another, it radically changed the characteristics of the recipient
bacterium.
Gene is a sequence of DNA that encodes for a specific trait
- basic unit of genetic information. Genes determine the inherited
characters
The position of a gene on a particular chromosome is called the locus (plural = loci)
 Alleles are alternative forms of a gene that code for the different variations of a specific
trait
For example, the gene for eye colour has alleles that encode different
shades / pigments

As alleles are alternative forms of the one gene, they possess very


similar gene sequences
Alleles only differ from each other by one or a few bases
 DNA - is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic
instructions specifying the biological development of all
cellular forms of life
 The DNA segments that carry genetic information are called genes,
but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved
in regulating the expression of genetic information.
 It is often compared to a blueprint
 A gene mutation is a change in the nucleotide sequence of
a section of DNA coding for a specific trait
 New alleles are formed by mutation

Gene mutations can be beneficial, detrimental or neutral


 Beneficial mutations change the gene sequence (missense
mutations) to create new variations of a trait
 Detrimental mutations truncate the gene sequence
(nonsense mutations) to abrogate the normal function of a
trait
 Neutral mutations have no effect on the functioning of the
specific feature (silent mutations)

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