UNIT II

Non-Mendelian
Genetics
Inheritance Concepts Mendel Never Imagined!
❑ Review of Mendel’s
Principles
 Genes are passed, parents→
offspring; get one allele from each
parent
 During Meiosis, the alleles for a
gene segregate from each other.
 During Meiosis, genes
independently assort with each
other.
Difference between Gene and allele

????
Mendelian Genetics
(Complete Dominance)
⚫ Only two possible Phenotypes: either dominant or
recessive
⚫ Tall plant X Short plant = Tall plant
(TT) (tt) (Tt)
Introduction
⚫ Mendelian Genetics describes inheritance
patterns based on Complete Dominance or
Recessiveness.
⚫ There are other types of inheritance that
Mendel never considered:
⚫ Incomplete Inheritance
⚫ Codominance
⚫ Multiple Alleles
⚫ Polygenic Traits
⚫ Sex-linked
 GENE INTERACTIONS
❑ Mendel and other workers assumed that
characters are governed by single genes but
later it was discovered that many characters
are governed by two or more genes.

❑ Such genes affect the development of

concerned characters in various ways; this
lead to the modification of the typical Dihybrid
ratio (9:3:3:1) or trihybrid (27:9:9:9:3:3:3:1).

❑ Numerous deviations have been recorded in

which different kinds of interactions are
possible between the genes.
❑ The phenomenon of two or more
genes affecting the expression of each
other in various ways in the
development of a single character of
an organism is known as GENE
INTERACTION.

❑ Most of the characters of living

organisms are controlled/ influenced/
governed by a collaboration of several
different genes.

❑ BATESON suggested concept of gene

interaction and this concept is called
Bateson’s factor hypothesis.
KINDS OF GENE OINTERACTIONS
1. INTRA- ALLELIC GENE INTERACTIONS
✓ The genetic interactions between the alleles of a single gene are referred
to intra- allelic gene interactions.
✓ Commonly referred as Intragenic interaction
✓ It includes co-dominance, multiple alleles and incomplete dominance.

2. INTER-ALLELIC GENE INTERACTIONS

✓ The genetic interactions between the alleles of one gene with the allele of
other gene are referred to inter- allelic gene interactions.
✓ Commonly referred as Intergenic interaction
✓ It includes
❑ Complementary gene interaction 9:7
❑ Supplementary gene interaction 9:3:4
❑ Epistasis
i Dominant Epistasis 12:3:1
ii Recessive Epistasis 9:3:4
INTRA- ALLELIC GENE
INTERACTIONS
Genes with 3 alleles can generate
6 genotypes as (…+…+…)
 ❑ Incomplete Dominance
 In Incomplete Dominance, every genotype has
its own phenotype. (One allele not completely
dominant over the other.) Third phenotype that is
a blending of the parental traits. (2 alleles
produce 3 phenotypes.)
 First case of incomplete dominance or blending
inheritance was reported in 4-O’clock plant,
(Mirabilis jalapa) by Carl Correns (1903) when
plants with red flowers (RR) are crossed with
plants having white flowers (rr) the hybrid F1
plants (Rr) bear pink flowers. When these F1
plants with pink flowers are self pollinated they
develop red (RR), pink (Rr) and white (rr)
flowered plants in the ratio of 1:2:1 (F2
generation).
 Snapdragon or dog flower (Antirrhinum majus) is
an other example of incomplete dominance.
 ❑ Incomplete Dominance
 The hybrid (heterozygous)
offspring displays a THIRD
Phenotype!! Neither trait is
completely dominant, as a
result, there appears to be
a blending phenotype.

 A new phenotype
appears in the heterozygous
condition as a BLEND of the
dominant and recessive

Red Flower X White Flower = Pink Examples:Trait: Flower Color Expressions: Red
x White → Pink RR= Red; RW= pink; WW= white
 ❑ CODOMINANCE
➢Codominance (1:2:1 ratio) : In codominance,
both the genes of an allelomorphic pair express
themselves equally in F1 hybrids. 1:2:1 ratio
both genotypically as well as phenotypically in
F2 generation.

➢In codominance, neither allele are dominant;

both are expressed. A cross between organisms
with two different phenotypes produces
offspring with has both phenotypes of the
parental traits shown.

➢Some genes have alleles that are both

expressed in the heterozygote individuals
 ❑ Codominance
❑ Both alleles contribute to the phenotype.
 Example: In some chickens
Black Chicken x White → Speckled Chicken
❑ Co-Dominance

⚫ Both traits are dominant, and show up in the phenotype

together. Co means “together”

⚫ Black Cow X White Cow = Spotted Cow

(BB) (WW) (BW)
Difference between codominance
and incomplete dominance
Can you tell me which type of
dominance…?

A B
INTER ALLELIC GENE
INTERACTION
 ❑ COMPLEMENTARY GENE
INTERACTION (9:7)
➢ The complementary genes are two pairs of
nonallelic dominant genes (i.e., present on
separate gene loci), which interact to produce
only one phenotypic trait, but neither of them
if present alone, produces the phenotypic trait
in the absence of other.

➢ Complementation between two non-allelic

genes are essential for production of a
particular or special phenotype i.e.,
complementary factor.
➢ Two genes involved in a specific pathway and
their functional products are required for gene
expression, then one recessive allelic pair at
either allelic pair would result in the mutant
phenotype.

➢ When Dominant alleles are present together,

they complement each other to yield
complementary factor resulting in a special
phenotype.

➢ They are called complementary genes.

❑ SUPPLEMENTARY GENE
INTERACTION (9:3:4)
➢ Supplementary genes are two independent pairs
of dominant genes which interact in such a way
that one dominant gene will produce its effect
whether the other is present or not. The second
dominant when added changes the expression
of the first one but only in the presence of first
one.

➢ In supplementary gene action, the dominant

allele of one gene is essential for the
development of the concerned phenotype, while
the other gene modifies the expression of the
first gene.
 ❑ EPISTASIS GENE
INTERACTION
✓ Epistasis is a Greek word that means standing
over.
✓ BATESON used term epistasis to describe the
masking effect in 1909
✓ The term epistasis describes a certain
relationship between genes, where an allele
of one gene hides or masks the visible output
or phenotype of another gene.
❑ When two different genes which are not alleles, both
affect the same character in such a way that the
expression of one masks (inhibits or suppresses) the
expression of the other gene, the phenomenon is
said to be epistasis.
❑ The gene that suppresses other gene expression is
known as Epistatic gene.
❑ The gene that is suppressed or remain obscure is
called Hypostatic gene.
❑ The classical phenotypic ratio of 9:3:3:1 F2 ratio
becomes modified by epistasis.
Epistasis is of two main types
i. Dominant Epistasis
ii. Recessive Epistasis
❑ Dominant epistasis (12:3:1)
✓ When out of the two genes, the dominant allele (Example:
A) of one gene masked the activity of alleles of another
gene (Example: B), and expressed itself phenotypically,
then A gene locus is said to be Epistatic to B gene locus.

✓ Because, the dominant allele A can express itself in the

presence of either B or b allele, therefore, such type of
epistasis is termed as dominant epistasis.

✓ The alleles of hypostatic locus or gene B will be able to

express themselves phenotypically only when gene A
locus may contain two recessive allele.

✓ The dominant epistasis modify the classical ratio of 9:3:3:1

into 12:3:1
 ❑Recessive epistasis
(9:3:4 ratio)
❑ Epistasis due to recessive gene is known as
recessive epistasis, i.e., out of the two pairs of
genes, the recessive epistatic gene masks the
activity of the dominant gene of the other gene
locus.
❑ The dominant A expresses itself only when the
epistatic locus C also has the dominant gene if
the epistatic locus has recessive gene c, gene A
fails to express.
❑ Sometimes the recessive alleles of
one gene locus (aa) masks the action
or phenotypic expressions of alleles of
another gene locus (BB, Bb as bb
alleles). This type of epistasis is called
recessive epistasis.

❑ The alleles of B express itself, when

epistatic locus has dominant alleles
(AA or Aa).

❑ Due to recessive epistasis, the

phenotypic ratio 9:3:3:1 becomes
modified into 9:3:4.
Thanks