Genetics: A Code for All Life CHROMOSOMAL BASIS OF INHERITANCE:

● Sex Cells (gametes) (ova and sperm),

● Principle of hereditary transmission
transmit genetic information from
- Central tenet of all life on Earth.
parents to offspring in sexually
- All organisms inherit a structural and
reproducing organisms.
functional organization from their
● Chromosomes occur in pairs,
progenitors (parents/ancestors).
homologous chromosomes.
● James Watson & Francis Crick (1953)
- One member of the pair is donated by
- Stated the nature of coded instructions
the mother, the other by the father.
in genes formed by DNA.
● Homologs contain similar genes
● Leads to evolution by genetic variation
encoding the same set of
and mutations in populations.
characteristics; Usually (not always)
have the same size and shape.
Gregor Johann Mendel
- First person to formulate the principles
of heredity.
- Bred peas in monastery garden from
1856 to 1864.

Garden Peas
● Mendel chose to work with pure strains
of garden peas.
● The plants were self-fertilizing but
subject to experimental
cross-fertilization.
- He studied single characteristics that
displayed sharply contrasting traits.
 MEIOSIS: REDUCTION DIVISION
OF GAMETES
● Meiosis is a special pair of cell divisions
in which a cell’s genetic material
replicates once followed by two rounds
of cell division.
● The result is a set of four daughter
cells of which has only one member of
each homologous chromosome pair.
● The number of chromosomes in a single
set is called haploid (n) number of
chromosomes.
FERTILIZATION
● Gametes combine in fertilization.
- Reestablishes the diploid
chromosome number (2n).
- Union of egg and sperm produces a
zygote (single cell).
● Contains chromosomes of egg
and sperm or two sets of
chromosomes (diploid).
● Each zygote is genetically
unique.
● In humans, the zygotes and all body
cells normally have a diploid number
(2n) of 46 chromosomes; the gametes
have the haploid number (n), or 23, and
meiosis reduces the number of
chromosomes per cell from diploid to
haploid.
● Alternative forms of genes for the same
trait are allelic forms or alleles.
- Sometimes only one of the alleles has a
visible effect on the organisms, although
both are present in each cell, and either
may be passed to progeny by meiosis
and subsequent fertilization.
Prophase I
- The two members of each pair of
homologs make side-by-side contact
(synapsis) to form a bivalent.
- Bivalent composed of two pairs of
chromatids (each pair termed a dyad) or
four future chromosomes and is called a
tetrad.
- Homologs cross-over and exchange
genetic information.
Metaphase I
- Homologs line up side-by-side on the
metaphase plate.
Anaphase I
- Tetrads are separated into dyads and
moved to opposite poles of the cell.
- Centromeres do not divide.
At the end of Meiosis I each daughter cell
contains one chromosome (made of two
chromatids) from each homologous pair.
• Each of these cells (now haploid) enter
Meiosis II
• No interphase between Meiosis I and Meiosis
II
MEIOSIS II
● Meiosis II resembles mitosis
- Dyads are split
- Single-stranded chromosomes move
toward poles.
- Results in four daughter cells, each with
one haploid set of chromosomes.
SEX DETERMINATION

● XX-XO Sex determination in some

insects.
- Presence or absence of accessory
chromosomes determine whether
offspring are female or male.
- XX–XO type

● XX-XY Sex determination in humans.

- 46 chromosomes (23 pairs) in somatic
cells.

● Pairs 1–22: Autosomes (do not

determine sex).
● Pair 23: Sex chromosomes (determine
sex).
- Two sex chromosomes, X and Y, are
heteromorphic.

● Do not contain the same linear

sequence of genes.
● Do not contain the same linear
sequence of genes.

OTHER TYPES OF SEX DETERMINATION

● ZZ-ZW Sex determination in birds,

moths, butterflies, and some fishes.
- The male has two X (or sometimes
called ZZ) chromosomes and the female
an X and a Y (or ZW).

● Sex determination in other

invertebrates and vertebrates.
- Affected by environmental or behavioral
conditions rather than by sex
chromosomes.
- Or by genetic loci whose variation is
not associated with visible difference in
chromosomal structure.