BIO 156

Chapter 17
Principles of Human Heredity
 Meiosis and Gamete Formation
• During gamete formation, germ cells undergo a special kind of
division called meiosis, which reduces the number of
chromosomes by half.
– Meiosis is a type of nuclear division found only in germ-cell
production in the gonads of sexually reproducing animals.

• Meiosis involves two cellular divisions.

• Meiosis I is a reduction division.
– The chromosome number is halved.
• Meiosis II is like mitosis in many ways.
– When haploid cells divide in meiosis II, they produce two
new cells.
– Each cell contains a haploid number of single-stranded
chromosomes.
Meiosis I
Meiosis II
Meiosis in Sperm Formation
Meiosis in Ovum Formation
 Principles of Heredity

• Much of our early knowledge on heredity

came from the work of Gregor Mendel.

• Mendel discovered that the traits he was

studying did not blend.

• Mendel discovered that the parents

contributed equally to the characteristics of
their offspring.
• Mendel also discovered the principle of
dominance.
– A dominant factor masks a recessive
factor.
– A recessive factor is expressed only when
the dominant factor is missing.
– The dominant and recessive genes are
alternative forms of the gene, or alleles.
– Three genetic combinations are possible
for a given trait:
• Heterozygous
• Homozygous dominant
• Homozygous recessive
• The genotype of an organism is its genetic makeup;
the phenotype is its appearance.

• Genotypes and phenotypes can be determined by

the Punnett square.
Monohybrid Cross
• Genes on different
chromosomes segregate
independently of one
another during gamete
formation.
– This is the principle of
independent
assortment. It holds
true only for nonlinked
genes.
 Mendelian Genetics in Humans
• Autosomal-recessive traits are expressed only
when both alleles are recessive.
– Human cells contain 23 pairs of chromosomes:
• 22 pairs of autosomes and 1 pair of sex
chromosomes.
– Chromosomes carry dominant and recessive
traits.
– Inheritance of these traits is consistent with
Mendel’s principles of inheritance.

• Autosomal-dominant traits are expressed in all

individuals.
Variations in Mendelian
Genetics

• Incomplete dominance
results in a kind of blending of
traits, called incomplete, or
partial, dominance.
• Some genes have multiple alleles.
– Multiple alleles result in more genotypes
and phenotypes in a population.
– Because chromosomes exist in pairs,
individuals can have only two of the
possible alleles.
– Codominance occurs in multiple-allele
genes. Codominant genes are expressed
fully and equally.
• Some traits are determined by more than one
gene pair.
– This phenomenon is referred to as
polygenic inheritance.
End of Chapter 17