SREE NIKETAN PATASALA
VENGAMBAKKAM
CHAPTER – 9
HEREDITY -COMMON NOTES
GRADE; X
SUB: BIOLOGY
POINTS TO REMEMBER:
▪ Heredity: The passing of traits from the parents to offspring is called heredity.
▪ Phenotype: The observable characters in an organism make the phenotype. Expression of
morphological characters as tall or dwarf plant, violet or white flower is called Phenotype.
▪ Genotype: The complete set of genes in an organism’s genome is called genotype. The
expression of gene (or chromosomal makeup) of an individual for a particular trait is
called Genotype.
▪ Traits: The inheritable characteristics may be morphological/anatomical/physiological/
reproductive and are also known as traits.
▪ Alleles are a pair of genes that occupy a specific location on a particular chromosome
and control the same trait.
▪ Inheritance is the acquiring of genetic characteristics or traits from parents by their
offspring.
▪ Acquired Traits: Traits; which are acquired due to interaction with the environment; are
called acquired traits. Acquired traits are not inheritable.
▪ Inheritable Traits: Trait which can be expressed in subsequent generations , are called
inherited traits. Such traits bring a change in the genotype of the organism and hence
become inheritable.
The Law of Dominance, Law of Segregation and Law of Independent Assortment are the
three Mendel’s laws of inheritance.
Law of Dominance: (First law of Inheritance)
Mendel’s law of dominance states that:
“When parents with pure, contrasting traits are crossed together, only one form of trait
appears in the next generation. The hybrid offsprings will exhibit only the dominant trait in
the phenotype.”
Law of Segregation: (Second Law of Inheritance)
Mendel’s law of segregation states that:
“During the formation of gamete, each gene separates from each other so that each gamete
carries only one allele for each gene.”
Law of Independent Assortment: (Third law of Inheritance)
“The law of independent assortment states that the alleles of different genes are inherited
independently within the organisms that reproduce sexually.”
ACCUMULATION OF VARIATION DURING REPRODUCTION:
The difference or change in the characteristics between the individuals is called Variation.
Human population shows a great deal of variation.
Inheritance from the previous generation provides both a common basic body design, and subtle
changes in it, for the next generation. The second generation will have differences that they
inherit from the first generation, as well as newly created differences.
RULES FOR THE INHERITANCE OF TRAITS – MENDEL’S
CONTRIBUTIONS:
Garden pea (Pisum sativum):
● Garden pea was selected by Gregor. J. Mendel (1822-1884) for his experimental study
on heredity.
● Based on these studies only, he proposed principles of heredity.
Mendel's experiment:
● Gregor Johann Mendel is also known as the father of genetics.
● He studied the inheritance of the seven pairs of the contrasting traits present in the garden
pea plants.
● He proposed three principles of heredity based on these studies.
The reasons why Mendel chose garden pea plants for his experiments:
● Easy to cultivate in garden.
● Their life cycle is quite short.
● The flowers of the pea plant are bisexual.
● Ease in manipulating pollination (cross pollination).
● Produces many offspring in one cross.
● The true-breeding or pure plants can be easily obtained through self-pollination.
● Presence of observable traits with contrasting forms.
(for example; tall versus dwarf plant).
● These plants possess large flowers. Therefore, anthers (male) can be easily removed to
make this flower cross with the pollen from another flower.
Seven pairs of contrasting characteristics of pea plants:
1. Pea shape: Round or Wrinkled.
2. Pea colour: Green or Yellow.
3. Pod shape: Constricted or Inflated.
4. Pod colour: Green or Yellow.
5. Flower colour: Purple or White.
6. Plant size: Tall or Dwarf.
7. Position of flowers: Axial or Terminal.
MENDEL’S MONOHYBRID CROSS:
● “A monohybrid cross is the hybrid of two individuals with homozygous genotypes which
result in the opposite phenotype for a certain genetic trait.”
● “The cross between two monohybrid traits (TT and tt- homozygous genotypes) is called a
Monohybrid Cross.”
● Monohybrid cross is responsible for the inheritance of one gene. It can be easily shown through a
Punnett Square.
● Monohybrid cross is used by geneticists to observe how homozygous offspring express
heterozygous genotypes inherited from their parents.
The possible cross of Mendel’s experiment is:
● Tall (T) is dominant, whereas dwarf (t) is recessive.
● Cross pollination was done between two pure-bred lines for contrasting characters.
● In F1 generation, only dominant trait expresses itself, whereas recessive trait gets suppressed.
● In F2 generation, both traits, i.e., dominant and recessive express themselves.
● Mendel observed that traits which were absent in the F1 generation had reappeared in the F2
generation.
● These observations led to the formulation of the Law of Dominance and the Law of Segregation.
● Law of dominance is known as the first law of inheritance:In this law, each character is
controlled by distinct units called factors, which occur in pairs. If the pairs are heterozygous, one
will always dominate the other.
● Law of dominance explains that in a monohybrid cross between a pair of contrasting traits, only
one parental character will be expressed in the F1 generation and both parental characters will be
expressed in the F2 generation in the ratio 3:1.
● Law of segregation is the second law of inheritance: This law explains that the pair of alleles
segregate from each other during meiosis cell division (gamete formation) so that only one allele
will be present in each gamete.
● In a monohybrid cross, both the alleles are expressed in the F2 generation without any blending.
Thus, the law of segregation is based on the fact that each gamete contains only one allele.
DIHYBRID CROSS:
● The cross in which two pairs of characters are studied is called dihybrid cross.
● The individuals in this type of trait are homozygous for a specific trait.
● The parents carry different pairs of alleles for each trait.
● One parent carries homozygous dominant allele, while the other one carries homozygous
recessive allele.
● The offspring produced after the crosses in the F1 generation are all heterozygous for
specific traits.
Phenotype of F1 progeny is round and yellow.
The different types of F2 progeny obtained along with their ratio when F1 progeny was selfed, could
be illustrated by the given cross.
Phenotypic ratio: 9: 3: 3: 1
Round yellow seeds – 9; Round green seeds – 3;
Wrinkled yellow seeds – 3; Wrinkled green seeds – 1
MENDEL’S THIRD LAW:
Law of Independent Assortment: Alleles of different
characters separate independent from each other
during gamete formation.
In the above example; alleles of texture were assorted
independently from those of seed colour.
SEX DETERMINATION IN HUMANS:
● Somatic cells in human beings contain 23 pairs
of chromosomes.
● Out of them the 23rd pair is composed of
different types of chromosomes which are
named as X and Y chromosomes.
● The 23rd pair contains one X and one Y
chromosome in a male. On the other hand, the
23rd pair in a female contains X chromosomes.
● This means that all the eggs would have X
chromosome as the 23rd chromosome, while a
sperm may have either X or Y chromosome as
the 23rd chromosome.
● When a sperm with X chromosome fertilizes
the egg, the resulting zygote would develop
into a female child.
● When a sperm with Y chromosome fertilizes
the egg, the resulting zygote would develop
into a male child.
PYQ: ( To be written in C.W )
ASSERTION/REASONING QUESTIONS:
[Link](A) : Variations are seen in offspring produced by sexual reproduction.
Reason (R) : DNA molecule generated by replication is not exactly identical to original DNA.
Answer: (a) Both A and R are true and R is the correct explanation of A.
[Link](A): Mendel selected the pea plant for his experiments.
Reason (R): Pea plant is cross-pollinating and has unisexual flowers.
Answer: (a) Both A and R are true and R is the correct explanation of A.
[Link](A): The sex of a child is determined by the mother.
Reason (R) : Humans have two types of sex chromosomes: XX and XY.
Answer: (d) A is false but R is true.
[Link]: Accumulation of variation in a species increases the chances of its survival in changing
environment.
Reason: Accumulation of heat resistance in some bacteria ensure their survival even when temperature
in environment rises too much.
Answer: (b) Both A and R are true but R is not the correct explanation of A.
[Link]: Selfing of a plant for several generations helps plant breeders to obtain pure breeding
varieties.
Reason: Pure breeding plants are heterozygous for many traits.
Answer: (c) A is true but R is false.
SHORT ANSWERS:
1. All the variations in a species do not have equal chances of survival. Why? (2014) (2 marks)
Answer:
All the variations do not have equal chances of survival in the environment in which they live. Depending
on the nature of variations, different individuals would have different kinds of advantages. The organisms
which are most adapted to the environment will survive.
2. Name the information source for making proteins in the cells. (2014) (1 mark)
Answer:
Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) present in the chromosomes of cell nucleus is the information source for
making proteins.
3. (a) Why did Mendel choose garden pea for his experiments? Write two reasons. (2016)
Answer:
(a) Mendel choose garden pea for his experiments because:
(i) It was easy to grow and it shows some clear contrasting traits like some pea plants are tall whereas
others are dwarf.
(ii) Pea plants are self-pollinating and many generations of pea plants can be produced in comparatively
less time.
PRACTICE QUESTIONS: (To be given as H.W)
1. (a) Why did Mendel carry out an experiment to study inheritance of two traits in garden pea?
(b) What were his findings with respect to inheritance of traits in F1 and F2 generation?
(c) State the ratio obtained in the F2 generation in the above-mentioned experiment. (2020)
(5marks)
Answer:
(a) Mendel carried out crosses with two traits to see the interaction and basis of inheritance between them.
In a dihybrid cross given by Mendel, it was observed that when two pairs of characters were considered
each trait expressed independent of the other. (1mark)
(b) For example, a cross between round yellow and wrinkled green parents. (3marks)
In F1 generation, all plants are with round yellow seeds. But in F2 generation, we find all types of plants :
Round yellow, Round green, Wrinkled yellow, Wrinkled green.
(c) F2 generation ratio : Round-yellow = 9 : Round- green = 3 : Colour of stem in F1 progeny Wrinkled-
yellow = 3 : Wrinkled-green = 1 (1 mark)
2.A green stemmed rose plant denoted by GG and a brown stemmed rose plant denoted by gg are
allowed to undergo a cross with each other. (5 marks)
(a) List your observations regarding :
(i) Colour of stem in their F1 progeny
(ii) Percentage of brown stemmed plants in F2 progeny if plants are self pollinated.
(iii) Ratio of GG and Gg in the F2 progeny.
(b) Based on the findings of this cross, what conclusion can be drawn? (2020)
Answer:
(a) (i) Colour of stem in F1 progeny: (1 mark)
The colour in the F1 progeny is green stemmed as green stem colour is dominant.
(ii) F1 progeny on self-pollination: (1 mark)
F2 generation Green stemmed: Brown stemmed
14 or 25% of F2 progeny are brown stemmed rose plant.
(iii) Ratio of GG and Gg in F2 progeny: (1 mark)
Genotype of F2 progeny – GG : Gg
1:2
(b) This is a monohybrid cross. This shows that out of two contrasting traits only one dominant trait
appears in F1 generation and the trait which does not express is recessive. On selfing the F1 plants, both
the traits appear in next generation but in a definite proportion. (2 marks)
3.(a) Why is the F1 progeny always of tall plants when a tall plant is crossed with a short pea plant?
(b) How is F2 progeny obtained by self-pollination of F1 progeny different from F1 progeny? Give
reason for this observation.
(c) State a conclusion that can be drawn on the basis of this observation. (2020) (5 marks)
Answer:
(a) When a tall plant (TT) is crossed with a short tea plant (tt), only tall plants are obtained in F 1 progeny.
It is because out of two contrasting traits only one appears in the progeny of first generation. This means
that the trait which appears in F1 generation is dominant and the trait which does not express is recessive.
The character TT for tall plant is dominant, so all the plants are tall.
( 2 marks)
(b) On selfing F1 progeny ( 2 marks)
In F2 generation we obtained both tall and dwarf plants. Appearance of suppressed recessive trait in
individuals of F2 generation in Mendelian cross indicates that characters of recessive traits are not lost.
When the F1 generation plants were allowed to self-fertilise both the parental trait were expressed in
definite proportion in F2 generation.
(c) Above observation shows that only one dominant allele is expressed. This is called law of dominance.
In a heterozygous individual, two dissimilar alleles remain together and do not get mixed up. At the time
of gamete formation, they separate so that each gamete receives only one allele is always pure. This is
called “law of purity of gametes”. (1 mark)
4. A blue colour flower plant denoted by BB is crossbred with that of white colour flower plant
denoted by bb.
(a) State the colour of flower you would expect in their F1 generation plants.
(b) What must be the percentage of white flower plants in F2 generation if flowers of F1 plants are
self-pollinated?
(c) State the expected ratio of the genotypes BB and Bb in the F2 progeny. (2012) (5 marks)
Answer:
(a) The colour of the flower in F1 generation will be blue. (1m)
(b) If the flowers of F1 generation are self-pollinated, then the percentage of white flowers in F2 generation
must be 25%. (1m)
(c) The expected ratio of the genotypes BB and Bb in the F2 generation progeny is 1: 2. (1m)
The above results could be depicted by the given cross: (2m)
PRACTICE QUESTIONS (For Revision):
[Link] do Mendel’s experiments show that
(a) traits may be dominant or recessive?
(b) inheritance of two traits is independent of each other? (2017) (5 marks)
Answer:
(a) Mendel first crossed pure-bred tall pea plants with pure-bred dwarf pea plants and found that only tall
pea plants were produced in the first generation (F1). He then self-crossed the tall pea plants of the
F1 generation and found that tall plants and dwarf plants were obtained in the second generation or (F 2) in
the ratio of 3: 1. Mendel said that the trait of dwarfness of one of the parent pea plant had not been lost, it
was merely concealed or suppressed in the first generation to re-emerge in the second generation. He
called the suppressed trait of ‘dwarfness as ‘recessive trait’ and the expressed trait of ‘tallness’ as the
‘dominant trait’. In this way, Mendel’s experiments with tall and dwarf pea plants showed that the traits
may be dominant or recessive.
Hence this could be explained by the given cross: (2 marks)
(b) Mendel observed two combinations of characteristics in seeds, round-yellow and wrinkled-green, and
two new combinations of characteristics had appeared in the F2 generation, round-green and wrinkled-
yellow. According to Mendel’s second law of inheritance more than one pair of traits are considered in a
cross simultaneously, the factors responsible for each pair of trait are distributed independently to the
gametes.
The cross given below showing dihybrid cross explains that the inheritance of two traits is independent of
each other. (3 marks)
[Link] two differences in tabular form between dominant trait and recessive traits. What
percentage/proportion of the plants in the F2 generation/progeny were round, in Mendel’s cross
between round and wrinkled pea plants? (2016) (5 marks)
Answer:
Differences between dominant traits and recessive trait are given below: (2 m)
Dominant Trait Recessive Trait
(i) It is the trait controlled by dominant allele. It is the trait controlled by recessive allele.
(ii) It is the trait which is expressed in It is the trait which remains suppressed in
F1 generation. F1 generation and appears in F2 generation.
Out of total 4 genotypes possible in F2 generation 31 genotypes result in phenotypic expression of round
seeds. So, the percentage of plants with round seeds will be 75%. (1m)
This can be illustrated as follows:
(2 marks)
[Link] is a matter of chance whether a couple will have a male or a female child.” Justify this statement
by drawing a flow chart. (2015) (3 marks)
Answer:
Sex is determined at the time of fertilisation when male and female gametes fuse. Male produces two
types of gametes, i.e., having X or Y chromosome and female produces same type of gametes containing
X chromosomes. The sex of the child is determined at the time of fertilisation when male and female
gametes fuse to form zygote. (1 mark)
If a sperm (male gamete) carrying X chromosome fertilises an egg or ovum (female gamete) carrying X
chromosome, then the offspring will be a girl (female). This is because the offspring will have XX
combination of sex chromosomes. (1/2 m)
If a sperm (male gamete) carrying Y chromosome fertilises an egg or ovum (female gamete) which has X
chromosome, then the offspring will be a boy (male). This is because the offspring will have XY
combination of sex chromosomes. (1/2 m)
Therefore, there are 50% chance of a male child and 50% chance of a female child.
(1 mark)
CASE STUDY BASED QUESTIONS: (4 MARKS)
[Link] two sexes participating in sexual reproduction must be somewhat different from each other for a
number of reasons. How is the sex of a newborn individual determined? Different species use very
different strategies for this. Some rely entirely on environmental cues. Thus, in some animals like a few
reptiles, the temperature at which fertilised eggs are kept determines whether the animals developing in
the eggs will be male or female. In other animals, such as snails, individuals can change sex, indicating
that sex is not genetically determined. However, in human beings, the sex of the individual is largely
genetically determined. In other words, the genes inherited from our parents decide whether we will be
boys or girls.
i) How many chromosomes are there in human beings? (1m)
Ans: 23 pairs in which 22 pairs are autosomal and one pair i.e. 23rd pair is sex chromosome.
ii) What are the pairs of sex chromosomes present in both male and female? (1m)
Ans: People have same set of chromosomes i.e. XX but male have different sets of chromosomes i.e XY.
iii) Give a cross between male and female for sex determination in human beings. (1m)
Ans: XX × XY
👇 👇
X X Y
👇
XX XY
(female) (male)
iv) What are hermaphrodites? (1m)
Ans: Those organisms who don’t have separate sex organs i.e. both the sex organs are present in the same
body.
E.g.- Earthworm
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