Class – X (Biology)

Chapter- Heredity and Evolution

Some important terms

1. Genetics : Branch of science that deals with Heredity and variation.

2. Heredity : It means the transmission of features/ characters/ traits from one generation to the
next generation.
3. Variation : The differences among the individuals of a species/population are called
variations. It takes place due to environment changes, crossing over, and recombination of
genes and mutation.
4. Clones are those organisms which are exact copies of each other.
5. 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.
6. DNA is a chemical in the chromosome which carries the traits in a coded form.
7. Gene is the part of a chromosome which controls a specific biological function.
8. Contrasting characters: A pair of visible charactes such as tall and dwarf, white and violet
flowers, round and wrinkled seeds, green and yellow seeds etc.
9. Dominant gene: The gene which expresses itself even in the presence of alternative gene.
Example : ‘T’ is a dominant gene for height in pea plant.
10. Recessive trait: The gene which does not express itself in the presence of dominant gene.
Example:’t’ is a recessive gene for height in the pea plant.
11. Homozygous: A condition in which both the genes of same type are present for example; an
organism has both the genes for tallness it is expressed as TT and genes for dwarfness are
written as tt.
12.Heterozygous: A condition in which both the genes are of different types for example; an
organism has genes Tt it means it has a gene for tallness and the other for dwarfness only tall
character is expressed.
13. Genotype: It is genetic make up of an individual for example; A pure tall plant is expressed
as TT and hybrid tall as Tt.
14.Phenotype: It is external appearance of the organism for example; a plant having Tt
composition will appear tall although it has gene for dwarfness.
15.Acquired Traits:- Traits which are acquired due to interaction with the environment are
called acquired traits. Acquired traits are not inheritable. For example- if a boxer develops
bulging biceps, it does not mean that his son would be borne with bulging biceps.
16.Inherited Traits:- Traits which can be expressed in subsequent generations; are called
inheritable traits. Such traits bring a change in the genotype of the organism and hence
become inheritable.
17.Evolution is the process of development of new type of living organism from an old one by
gradual changes.

VARIATIONS DURING REPRODUCTION

Variations: The observable differences within a species is known as variation.
Example:- difference in complexion, height, eye colour, etc in human beings.
Accumulation of variations
Asexual reproduction involves a single parent and is hence not ideal for facilitating variations.
Some minor variations do occur due to inaccuracies in DNA replication. But the number of
variations would be too little and would take too many years to show effect.
Sexual reproduction, on the other hand, is ideal for facilitating variations because two parents are
involved in it. The offspring's genotype is contributed by two parents and hence chances of
variations are very high.

In the figure given above, the original organism at the top will give rise to, say, two individuals,
similar in body design, but with subtle differences. Each of them, in turn, will give rise to two
individuals in the next generation. Each of the four individuals in the bottom row will be different
from each other. While some of these differences will be unique, others will be inherited from their
respective parents, who were different from each other. This is the situation if an organism
reproduce asexually. However, if sexual reproduction occurs, even greater diversity will be
generated.

Advantage of variations: Variation during reproduction is important because it is necessary for

survival. Example: If the temperature of earth increases suddenly, then most of the bacteria living
on earth would vanish. Only few bacteria variants which can tolerate heat have better chances of
survival in heat wave in comparison to non-variant bacteria having no capacity to tolerate heat
wave. If these variants were not there, then the entire species of bacteria would have been
destroyed. Therefore, variation becomes important as it increases the survival chances of the
organism.

When these variations are accumulated over millions of years, new species are formed . This leads
to evolution.

Transmission of traits

The traits are transmitted from parents to their off-springs through genes present on their
chromosomes during sexual reproduction. Genes are responsible for transmission of traits. Genes
work in pairs. For every trait there is a pair of gene- one is dominant and other is recessive. The
combination determines the trait to be expressed.

Different versions of a gene are called alleles. Alleles are described as either dominant or
recessive depending on their associated traits.

Since human cells carry two copies of each chromosome (homologous chromosomes) they have
two versions of each gene. These different versions of a gene are called alleles.Alleles can be
either dominant or recessive.

Dominant alleles show their effect even if the individual only has one copy of the allele. It is always
represented by capital letter. For example, the allele for brown eyes is dominant(B).Therefore you
only need one copy of the 'brown eye' allele to have brown eyes (although, with two copies you will
still have brown eyes, BB).

Recessive alleles only show their effect if the individual has two copies of the allele. For example,
the allele for blue eyes is recessive(b), therefore to have blue eyes you need to have two copies of
the 'blue eye' allele(bb).

At the time of conception, sperm cell fuses with the ovum to create a new cell called zygote with 46
(23 pairs) chromosomes. On each pair of chromosomes (homologous chromosomes), there are two
genes that determine the inherited trait. These alternative forms of a gene pair are called alleles. If
the two alleles are identical (one pair from each parent), the off spring will express that trait.
Mendel and his contribution in Genetics

 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 –

1. The Law of Dominance

2. The Law of Segregation and
3. The Law of Independent Assortment.

Mendel started his work on Pisum sativum (garden pea).

The reason of choosing garden pea for experiment was-
 Short life cycle
 Large number of seeds produced
 Self-pollination
 Several contrasting characters can be found

He had chosen seven pair of contrasting characters-

Mendel’s Laws

1. Law of Dominance: A gene has two contrasting alleles. One allele always expresses itself in
the organism. This allele, which expresses itself in any possible combination, is called
dominant allele/gene.

2. Law of Segregation: The two alleles of a gene controlling one trait get separated (segregate)
during gamete formation. Each gamete receives only one allele. This allele may be dominant
or recessive.

3. Law of Independent Assortment: When crossing occurs between individuals having two or
more pairs of contrasting traits, the inheritance of one pair is not affected by the presence of
other.

Monohybrid cross: When only one character is considered while crossing two organisms, then
such a cross is known as monohybrid cross.

-He took pure tall (genotype TT, homozygous dominant) and pure dwarf (genotype tt, homozygous
recessive) pea plants and cross pollinated them to obtain first generation or first filial generation.
 In
F1 generation, he obtained only tall plants. This meant that only one of the parental traits was seen,
not the mixture of the two. (no medium height plant)

-The plants of F1generation are then self pollinated to obtain F2 generation .

 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 F, generation both tall and dwarf traits 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/ Mono-hybrid ratio: Phenotypic ratio—Tall : Dwarf =3 : 1

Genotype ratio—Pure Tall : Hybrid Tall : Pure Dwarf =1 : 2 : 1
Monohybrid cross proves these two laws of Mendel-
Law of Dominance: A gene has two contrasting alleles. One allele always expresses itself in the
organism. This allele, which expresses itself in any possible combination, is called dominant
allele/gene.
Law of Segregation : The two alleles of a gene controlling one trait get separated (segregate)
during gamete formation. Each gamete receives only one allele. This allele may be dominant or
recessive. (Law of purity of gametes).

Some important definitions

 Genotype: The complete set of genes in an organism’s genome is called genotype.
 Phenotype: The observable characters in an organism make the phenotype.
 Punnet square: The Punnett square is a square diagram that is used to predict the
genotypes of a particular cross or breeding experiment. It is named after Reginald
C. Punnett, who devised the approach. The diagram is used by biologists to determine the
probability of an offspring having a particular genotype.

 Homozygous and heterozygous are terms that are used to describe allele pairs. Individuals
carrying two identical alleles (RR or rr) are known as homozygous. While individual
organisms bearing different alleles (Rr) are known as heterozygous.
For example, assume gene of hair colour has two alleles, one of the allele codes for brown
(R) and the other codes for black (r).
 F1 generation is the first generation of offspring produced by a set of parents. The 'F' in F1
stands for 'filial.' So in short, F1 means 'first filial generation'.
 F2 generation: the generation produced by interbreeding individuals of an
F1 generation called also second filial generation.

Dihybrid cross : When two characters are considered while crossing two organisms, then such a
cross is known as a dihybrid cross.
Mendel cross breed pea plants bearing round and green seeds 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.
Conclusion
The phenotypic ratio was found to be 9:3:3:1
9 are round yellow
3 are round green
3 are wrinkled yellow
1 is wrinkled green
But the genotypic ratio was found to be 1:2:1: 2:4:2: 1:2:1.
He concluded that traits are independently inherited.

III Law: Law of Independent Assortment: When crossing occurs between individuals having two
or more pairs of contrasting traits, the inheritance of one pair is not affected by the presence of
other.

How do traits get expressed?

Traits are coded in the form of genes, genes are sequences which would code for particular proteins,
proteins would then lead to the expression of particular trait. For example trait for skin colour is
determined by genes which code for enzyme which make melanin (skin pigment)

As per the Mendelian law, both parents equally contribute genes and thus the child has a
combination of a set of genes from both the parents.
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.

Presence of genes on chromosomes in male and female gametes, together decide which trait
will be expressed in the progeny. When gametes combine, they restore a normal number of
chromosomes to ensure the stability of DNA in species.

Sex Determination-The biological process through which sexual characteristics of an individual

develops making it a male individual or female individual is called sex determination.
There are several other procedures followed to determine the sex of a newborn baby.
Based on the environmental signals the sex of a baby can be determined.
For example,
1. In lizard, high incubation temperature results in the production of male offspring.
2. In turtles, high incubation temperature results in the production of female offspring.
3. In other animals, like snails, it is possible to change sex as they are not genetically processed.
In human beings, the sex of an individual is genetically determined- the genes which are
inherited from their parents decide the sex of the child.

Sex determination in Human beings

1. Humans have 23 pairs of chromosomes.
 2. Out of these 23 pairs, 22 pairs are Autosomes and only one pair is the ‘Sex Chromosome’,
which actively takes part in the process of sex determination.
3. Both males and females carry two sets of sex chromosome.
4. Male has one X and one Y (XY) sex chromosome in which both are active
5. Female has both X (XX) sex chromosome in which one is active.
6. The XY sex-determination system is found in humans, mammals, in some insects, and in few
plant species.
7. All children will inherit an X chromosome from their mother, despite whether they are a boy
or girl. Thus, the sex of the children will be determined by the type of chromosome inherited
from their father.
8. A child who inherits Y chromosome will be a boy and who inherits X chromosome will be a
girl.

Blood group inheritance in human beings

Blood groups are inherited from our parents in the same way as other genetic traits (eg, eye colour).

The ABO blood group system is determined by a gene, which is found on chromosome no. 9 in
human cells. The four ABO blood groups- A, B, AB and O, arise from inheriting one or more of the
alternative forms of this gene (or alleles) namely IA, IB and i. The IA and IB alleles are codominant.
‘i’ allele is recessive or sometimes called ‘silent' allele.
Genetic Combinations of ABO Blood Groups :

Blood Group(phenotype) Possible Genotypes

A IA IA or IA i

B IBIB or IB i

AB IA IB

O ii

ABO Inheritance Patterns :

Another way of representing-
Contrasting characters in human beings