Chapter 5 – Heredity

I. What is Genetics
A. What Have You Inherited?

1.Heredity
a. passing of traits from parent to offspring

b. controlled by genes

B. The Father of Genetics

1. Gregor Mendel
a. 1856

b. Austrian monk and scientist

c. Studied garden pea plants

d. Why pea plants?

1. In charge of gardens

2. Easy to grow

3. Fast generation time

4. Contrasting traits that were easy to distinguish: tall vs. short

5. Could control crossing of traits at will

6. Could produce large numbers of offspring in a small space

7. Breed true; purebred tall always produce tall offspring

e. His work is the foundation of the modern science of genetics

C. In Mendel’s Garden

1. Cross-pollination
a. Transfer of pollen from one plant to another
2. Dominant and recessive factors
a. tall X short = all tall offspring

b. Mendel concluded tall was the dominant factor, always showing when present

c. Short was the recessive factor

d. Mendel allowed second generation of plants to self-pollinate

e. Result: 3 tall and 1 short F2 generation

3. Predictions Using Probability

a. probability helps predict what will happen

b. example: coin toss, 50% heads to 50% tails

c. Mendel dealt with probability & used large numbers

d. studied 30,000 plants over 8 years

e. increased his chances of seeing a repeatable pattern because he used large

numbers

D. Using a Punnett Square

1. Punnett Square
a. used to predict the outcome of genetic crosses

b. dominant traits, capital letter (T) = tall

c. recessive traits, lowercase letter (t) = short

2. Alleles
a. alleles: contrasting genes for the same trait

b. example: T = tall, t = short are alleles for height

c. every organism has two genes for every trait

d. homozygous
1. Describes an individual with identical genes for the same trait
2. TT or tt

e. heterozygous
1. Describes an individual with different genes for the same trait

2. Tt

3. Also called a hybrid

f. phenotype = physical appearance (Tall)

g. genotype = genetic makes up (TT or Tt)

h.example: using a Punnett Square

1. list gametes:

P (parental) generation: TT x tt

T T
t Tt Tt

t Tt Tt

II. Genetics Since Mendel

A. Incomplete Dominance

1. no one gene is dominant or recessive

2. resulting heterozygous phenotypes are intermediate

a. example:
1. red four o’clocks X white four o’clocks yield all pink offspring

2. RR = red flowers, Rr = pink flowers, rr =white flowers

3. blending

b. example
1. in cows roan coat color shows co-dominance

2. RR = red coat color, Rr = roan coat color,

rr = white coat color

B. Multiple Genes

1. Polygenic inheritance
a. more than one pair of genes influences the phenotype of a trait

b. phenotypes are the result of two or more pairs of genes

c. example: human skin color

1. three alleles: A, B, C are dominant

2. AABBCC = dark skin

3. aabbcc = white skin

4. AaBBCC = dark tan skin

5. Aabbcc = light tan skin

2. Multiple alleles
a. more than two alleles exist that can determine a trait

b. a person only inherits two of these alleles

c. example: human blood types

1. three alleles; A, B, O

2. O = recessive, A and B are co-dominant

3. Blood Type

III. Human Genetics

A. Recessive Genetic Disorders

1. Sickle cell anemia

a. S = normal shape red blood cells, s = sickle cell shaped red blood cells

b. Ss = some normal and some sickle shaped cells

c. ss = sickle cell anemia

d. More common among Africans and African Americans

e. Why?
1. The genotype Ss makes individuals naturally immune to malaria

2. People with SS, who are normal for blood cells can easily die from Malaria, people who
are ss die from sickle cell anemia

f. In Ss, where an individual has both normal and sickle cells, there’s an
advantage for survival
1. These individuals cannot get malaria

2. Cystic fibrosis
a. Genetic disorder of the mucous membranes

b. CC = normal, Cc = carrier (normal phenotype but can pass CF

to offspring),

c. cc = cystic fibrosis

B. Sex Determination

1. Human have 23 pairs of chromosomes or 46 total chromosomes

2. Pairs 1 – 22 are autosomal chromosomes

3. Pair 23 are the sex chromosomes; they determine the sex of an

individual

4. XX = female, XY = male

5. male determines the sex

C. Sex-Linked Disorders

1. Carried on the X chromosome

2. Passed from mother to son

3. Females must inherit two genes to have a sex-linked recessive trait

4. males need only inherit one gene to have the trait

~e.g. red – green colorblindness~

a. females --- CC – normal; Cc – carrier

~above are normal phenotypes but carry defective gene for colorblindness, cc- colorblind~

b. males: Cy – normal, cy – colorblind

D.Sex-Influenced Traits

1. Carried on autosomal chromosomes (1-22)

2. A person’s sex influences the expression of these traits because of the

presence of different hormones
~e.g: male pattern baldness~
a. This gene acts dominant in males and recessive in females

**B = bald , b = normal hair

Genotype Phenotype

Males Females

BB Bald Bald
Bb Bald Normal Hair
bb Normal Hair Normal Hair

E. Genetic Engineering

1. Scientists experiment with biological and chemical methods to change

DNA

2. Not new, began in 1980

3. products now produced by genetic engineering

a.human insulin

b.human growth hormone

c. Snow-max
1. Artificial snow can be produced that melts at 50 degrees F instead of 32 degrees

2. Advantage ski resorts can stay open longer

d. ice-minus bacteria
1. Strawberries treated with this will not freeze at 32 degrees F
They will not freeze until the temperature goes down to 20 degrees F

2. Advantage in early frosts farmers will not lose their crops as easily.

4. How is this done?

a. Bacterial DNA, a plasmid, is circular

b. Geneticists remove the plasmid

c. Insert desired gene

d. Place plasmid back into the bacteria

e. Result: bacteria now has different genes to produce the desired effect