 Describe an ancient hypotheses that explain how traits are passed from parents to

offspring. What is the modern concept that contradicts this hypothesis.

 Genetic inheritance is a basic principle of genetics. It explains how characteristics are

passed from one generation to the next.

 Genetic inheritance occurs due to genetic material in the form of DNA being passed from
parents to their offspring. When organisms reproduce, all the information for growth,
survival and reproduction for the next generation is found in the DNA passed down from
the parent generation.

 Much of our understanding of inheritance began with the work of a monk by the name of
Gregor Mendel. His experiments and ‘Laws of Inheritance’ provide the foundations for
modern genetics.

 In sexual reproduction, genetic material is combined from two parents and passed to one
individual. Although the offspring receives a combination of genetic material from two
parents, certain genes from each parent will dominate the expression of different traits.

The science of genetics has ancient roots

 (400 BCE) An early explanation for inheritance suggested that particles called pangenes
came from all parts of the organism and were incorporated into eggs or sperm to be
passed to offspring.
 (1800s)The idea that hereditary materials mix in forming offspring, called the blending
hypothesis, was suggested but later rejected because it did not explain how traits that
disappear in one generation can reappear in later generations.
Experimental genetics began in an abbey
garden (mid 1800s)
 Heredity is the transmission of traits from one generation to the next.
 Genetics is the scientific study of heredity.
 Gregor Mendel (1860s)
– Father of modern genetics
– Experimented with garden peas
– Found patterns to inheritance of traits
– Inheritance could be predicted
 In 1866, Mendel correctly argued that parents pass on to their offspring discrete
“heritable factors” and stressed that the heritable factors (today called genes), retain their
individuality generation after generation.
 A heritable feature that varies among individuals, is called a character (flower color)
 Each variant for a character, is a trait (purple or white flowers)

9.1 The study of genetics has ancient roots

• The Greek physician Hippocrates explained inheritance by proposing that

• particles called “pangenes” travel from each part of an organism’s body to the eggs or
sperm and

• characteristics acquired during the parents’ lifetime could be transferred to the offspring.
 • Hippocrates’s idea is incorrect in several respects.

• The reproductive cells are not composed of particles from somatic (body) cells.

• Changes in somatic cells do not influence eggs and sperm.

• The idea that hereditary materials mix in forming offspring, called the blending hypothesis, was

• suggested in the 19th century by scientists studying plants but

• later rejected because it did not explain how traits that disappear in one generation can
reappear in later generations.

9.2 The science of genetics began in an abbey garden

• Heredity is the transmission of traits from one generation to the next.

• Genetics is the scientific study of heredity.

• Gregor Mendel

• began the field of genetics in the 1860s,

• deduced the principles of genetics by breeding garden peas, and

• relied upon a background of mathematics, physics, and chemistry.

9.3 Mendel’s law of segregation describes the inheritance of a single character

• Mendel developed four hypotheses, described below using modern terminology.

1. Alleles are alternative versions of genes that

account for variations in inherited characters.

2. For each character, an organism inherits two

alleles, one from each parent. The alleles can
be the same or different.

• A homozygous genotype has identical alleles.

• A heterozygous genotype has two different alleles.

• If the alleles of an inherited pair differ, then one determines the organism’s appearance and is
called the dominant allele. The other has no noticeable effect on the organism’s appearance and
is called the recessive allele.

1. The phenotype is the appearance or expression of a trait.

2. The genotype is the genetic makeup of a trait.

3. The same phenotype may be determined by more than one genotype.

• A sperm or egg carries only one allele for each inherited character because allele pairs separate
(segregate) from each other during the production of gametes. This statement is called the law of
segregation.

1. The fusion of gametes at fertilization creates allele pairs once again.

Modern?
DNA is the chemical of heredity and is found in the chromosomes of our cells. The instructions of the
DNA are used to synthesize various proteins needed by the body to function optimally. Distinct segments
of DNA are known as genes. Genes re inherited by offspring from their parents. In sexually reproducing
organisms, fifty percent of the genes come from the mother and fifty percent from the father. Meiotic cell
division produces haploid gametes of sex cells, with half of the chromosomes the organism will need. At
fertilization, the two haploid sex cells form a diploid zygote (fertilized egg). It is at that moment, that all of
the organism’s genes are established that they will have in their body. From that fertilized egg, mitotic
divisions take place until a mature offspring is formed. All the cells of the body have the chromosome
complement that was present in that first fertilized egg cell. In asexually reproducing organisms, whatever
chromosomes the parent cell has are passed down to the offspring due to mitosis.

 An organism’s traits and appearance are controlled by specific forms of proteins. The instructions
for making proteins are contained in our genetic material, the nucleic acid DNA. DNA remains in
the nucleus of our cells in the form of linear structures called chromosomes. When gametes are
formed, the male and female parents pass along their DNA into their respective gametes.
Fertilization fuses the gametes and combines the genetic contribution of each parent into the
new offspring. This DNA is now responsible for directing the making of proteins in the offspring. 

` Explain one factor that led to the success of Mendel’s experiment

Many scientists earlier to the period of Mendel had attempted breeding experiments in both plants and
animals. However, most of them failed to arrive at any specific conclusions or principles to explain the
pattern of inheritance. In fact, many of these scientists did not even keep precise records of the results
obtained by them in their experiments. Mendel, however could easily succeed in formulating certain basic
principles of heredity, for the following reasons:

 The pea plant which Mendel chose for conducting experiments, is most ideal for controlled
breeding, since it can easily be subjected to cross pollination.

 He identified very clear contrasting characters in the pea plants.

 He selected pure breeding plants for his experiments. He is said to have spent about 2 years to
ascertain this characteristic feature.

 Mendel concentrated at a time only on the inheritance on one particular trait, with the two
contrasting conditions, instead of attempting the inheritance of entire set of characters in the
plant.

 He maintained an accurate record of all the observations he made on the breeding experiments
that he had designed.

 He pooled the data obtained from similar experiments for different characteristics and analysed
the results by using statistical methods and applying the law of probability.

 He was able to effectively check the flowers under investigation from contamination by unwanted
pollen grains.

 Mendel was fortunate enough in choosing the seven pairs of contrasting characters in pea plants.
It was later discovered that the genes responsible for these characters are located on separate
chromosomes.
  Mendel was also fortunate in the sense that the characters he had chosen in the pea plant did not
show any interaction or linkage.

Genetics: he study of heredity and the variation of inherited characteristics.

 the genetic properties or features of an organism, characteristic, etc.

plural noun: genetics
"the effects of family genetics on the choice of career"

Traits: he study of heredity and the variation of inherited characteristics.

 the genetic properties or features of an organism, characteristic, etc.

plural noun: genetics
"the effects of family genetics on the choice of career"

Since gene and trait are two intertwined terms used in genetics but not the same, we must be very clear
with the difference between gene and trait. Briefly, genes have the information, which determines the
formation of proteins in the body. These proteins ultimately design the structure of all organisms. Thus,
genes determine the characteristics (traits) of all organisms. This is the key difference between gene and
trait, but the main focus of this article to elaborate more on the difference between gene and trait while
explaining the individual terms sufficiently.

What is a Gene?

Gregor Mendel was the first person to describe the existence of genes and their inheritance patterns. He
explained the inheritance of traits in terms of inherited characteristics and did not use the term ‘gene’. The
term ‘Gene’ is lately evolved with the development of Genetics. Gene is a segment of DNA, which
contains instructions to form proteins. Each gene has a specific sequence of base pairs, which
determines the structure and function of a specific protein. Genes are the blueprints of all the traits in the
body. They determine most of the characteristic features of organisms and are able to pass these
characteristic features to next generations; the process called heredity. These characteristic features are
known as traits, some of which are visible and some are not.
Differentiate
a. trait and gene
A gene is a stretch of DNA or RNA that determines a certain trait. Genes mutate and can take
two or more alternative forms; an allele is one of these forms of a gene. For example, the
gene for eye color has several variations (alleles) such as an allele for blue eye color or an
allele for brown eyes.

Genetic Traits. A phenotype is an individual's observable traits, such as height, eye color,

and blood type. The genetic contribution to the phenotype is called the genotype.
Some traits are largely determined by the genotype, while other traits are largely determined
by environmental factors.
Definition. ''noun, singular: trait'' (genetics) Characteristics or attributes of an organism that
are expressed by genes and/or influenced by the environment. Supplement. Traits include
physical attributes of an organism such as hair color, leaf shape, size, etc., and behavioral
characteristics, such as bird nesting.

Alleles are each of two or more alternative forms of a gene that are found at the
same position in a chromosome. Traits on the other hand, are the characteristics that are
defined by genes. So the combination of alleles for a gene is what manifests itself into a trait.

b. Dominant and recessive gene

Genes determine traits, or characteristics, such as eye, skin, or hair color, of all sexually-
reproducing species. Each gene consists of two alleles: one comes from the mother and one
from the father. Some alleles are dominant, meaning they ultimately determine the
expression of a trait. Other alleles are recessive and are much less likely to be expressed.
When a dominant allele is paired with a recessive allele, the dominant allele determines the
characteristic. When these traits or characteristics are visibly expressed, they are known
as phenotypes. The genetic code behind a trait is known as the genotype.

Dominant. When an allele is dominant, the characteristic it is connected to will

be expressed in sexually-reproduced offspring.
Recessive. When an allele is recessive, the characteristic it is connected to is less likely to be
expressed. Recessive traits only manifest when both parents carry a recessive trait or have
fully recessive traits to pass down.

c. Pedigree analysis and planned breeding experiments.

 A pedigree is a family tree that describes the interrelationships of parents and children across
generations.
 Inheritance patterns of particular traits can be traced and described using pedigrees.
 Pedigrees can also be used to make predictions about future offspring.

D. Population genetics and molecular genetics

Population genetics is a subfield of genetics that deals with genetic differences within and

between populations, and is a part of evolutionary biology. Studies in this branch of biology
examine such phenomena as adaptation, speciation, and population structure.

Molecular genetics is the field of biology that studies the structure and function ofgenes at
a molecular level and thus employs methods of both molecular biology and genetics. The
study of chromosomes and gene expression of an organism can give insight into
heredity, genetic variation, and mutations.
List down two uses of genetics in each of the ff: fields

 Agriculture
 Medicine
 Industry

Agriculture

Increase of yield
One of the reasons for practically every breeding project is to boost yield. This can over and over again
be brought about by choosing observable morphological variants. One instance is the selection of dwarf,
early maturing varieties of rice.
 Methods of plant breeding
Plant breeding devolves round the type of pollination or transfer of pollen from flower to flower.
Genetics has a lot of practical applications which are of immense value to human beings. In
agriculture, for instance, knowledge of principles of heredity is highly crucial when it comes to
increasing food production.
The fat, beef and milk production cattle of nowadays are a far cry from the skinny animals that used
to graze the fields decades ago.
Medicine

Common Terms used in the field of Medical Genetics. Genetics is the study of genes and
their effects. ... Medical genetics is any application of genetic principles to medical practice.
This includes studies of inheritance, mapping disease genes, diagnosis and treatment,
and genetic counseling.
In the field of medicine, research has shown that hoe heredity plays a part in a lot of disease. A lot of
severe human diseases, certain of the eye, and disabilities like colour blindness and dwarfism are all
predisposed by heredity.
For a lot of diseases, a correct diagnosis can be made more swiftly and precisely through a study of
one’s family history than through complex and exclusive laboratory tests.
Again, it is likely to avoid a lot of serious mistakes in diagnosis through genetic application.
Genetics is as well crucial in preventing medicine. In a few cases, it is possible to look forward to the
development of a disease or other body abnormalities due to the family history. Therefore, suitable
steps can be taken to stop its occurrence.
A person with a family history of diabetes might be ready for the onset of the disease and take the
essential steps and precautions to put off it from getting worse.
Industry

Benefits of Genetic Engineering

Genetic engineering facilitates the manipulation and duplication of DNA pieces, for industrial, medical and research
purposes. Genetic engineering has produced a revolution in molecular biology. Benefits of Genetic Engineering are
experienced in whole array of fields especially in agriculture, in production of valuable proteins and vaccine
production.

Industrial applications of genetic engineering include the production of new and better fuels, medicines, products to
clean up existing pollution, and tools for recovering natural resources. Associated processes may maximize the use
and production of renewable resources and biodegradable materials, while minimizing the generation of pollutants
during product manufacture and use.