Republic of the Philippines

PALAWAN STATE UNIVERSITY

College of Community Resource and Development
Quezon Campus

LEARNING MODULE IN CC7-BIO 1

PRINCIPLES OF GENETICS
 MODULE 3

GENE SEGREGATION AND INTERACTION

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Prepared by:

EMMA C. PESITO
Instructor

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OVERVIEW

In the 1860‟s, an Austrian monk named Gregor Mendel introduced a new theory of
inheritance based on his experimental work with pea plants. Prior to Mendel, most
people believed inheritance was due to a blending of parental „essences‟, much like
how mixing blue and yellow paint will produce a green color. Mendel instead believed
that heredity is the result of discrete units of inheritance, and every single unit (or gene)
was independent in its actions in an individual‟s genome. According to this Mendelian
concept, inheritance of a trait depends on the passing-on of these units. For any given
trait, an individual inherits one gene from each parent so that the individual has a pairing
of two genes. We now understand the alternate forms of these units as „alleles‟. If the
two alleles that form the pair for a trait are identical, then the individual is said to be
homozygous and if the two genes are different, then the individual is heterozygous for
the trait.

Based on his pea plant studies, Mendel proposed that traits are always controlled by
single genes. However, modern studies have revealed that most traits in humans are
controlled by multiple genes as well as environmental influences and do not necessarily
exhibit a simple Mendelian pattern of inheritance.

LEARNING OUTCOMES

Upon completion of this module, you will be able to:

 Identify and discuss Mendel‟s Principles of inheritance and apply these to problems of
inheritance

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 • Chromosomes (and genes) occur in pairs
Homologous Chromosomes
• New combinations of genes occur in sexual reproduction
– Fertilization from two parents

MENDELIAN GENETICS

Gregor Johann Mendel

 Austrian Monk, born in what is now Czech Republic in 1822

 Son of peasant farmer, studied Theology and was ordained priest Order St.
Augustine.
 Went to the University of Vienna, where he studied botany and learned the
Scientific Method.
 Worked with pure lines of peas for eight years.
 Prior to Mendel, heredity was regarded as a "blending"
process and the offspring were essentially a "dilution" of the different parental
characteristics.
 In 1866 he published Experiments in Plant Hybridization, (Versuche über
Pflanzen-Hybriden) in which he established his three Principles of Inheritance.

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Mendel’s peas

Mendel looked at seven traits or characteristics of pea plants:

Mendel was the first biologist to use Mathematics – to explain his results quantitatively.
Mendel predicted the concept of genes that genes occur in pairs that one gene of each
pair is present in the gametes.

Pea plant

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Monohybrid cross

• Parents differ by a single trait.

• Crossing two pea plants that differ in stem size, one tall one
short
T = allele for Tall
t = allele for dwarf
TT = homozygous tall plant
t t = homozygous dwarf plant
TT  tt

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Example for Monohybrid cross (stem length):

TT  tt
P = parentals (Tall) (Dwarf)
true breeding,
Homozygous plants:

F generation is
1 Tt
heterozygous: (All tall plants)

Punnett square

A Punnett square is a graphical representation of the possible genotypes of an offspring

arising from a particular cross or breeding event. Creating a Punnett square requires
knowledge of the genetic composition of the parents. Considered as a useful tool to do
genetic crosses

For a monohybrid cross, you need a square divided by four.

Punnett Square

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 Using a Punnett Square

STEPS:
1. determine the genotypes of the parent organisms
2. Write down your "cross" (mating)
3. Draw a p-square
4. Split the letters of the genotype for each parent and put them outside the Punnett square
5. Determine the possible genotypes of the offspring by filling in the p-square
6. Summarize results (genotypes and phenotypes of offspring)

Parent genotypes:
TT and t t Cross= T T  t t T T Female gametes

t Tt Tt
Male gametes

t Tt Tt

Monohybrid cross: F2 generation

If you let the F1 generation self-fertilize, the next monohybrid cross would be: Tt  Tt
(Tall) (Tall)
T t Genotype:
1 TT
T 2 Tt
1 tt =
TT Tt Genotypic ratio= 1:2:1

t Phenotype:
3 Tall
Tt tt 1 dwarf
Phenotypic ratio= 3:1

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 Another example: Flower color

P = purple (dominant)
p = white (recessive)

If you cross a homozygous Purple (PP) with a homozygous white (pp):

PP x pp Genotype: Pp

Phenotype: All purple

Pp

Cross the F1 generation: Pp x Pp

P p

Genotypes:
P PP Pp 1 PP
2 Pp
1 pp
Phenotypes:
p Pp pp 3 Purple
1 White

Mendel’s Principles:

1. Principle of Dominance:
One allele masked another; one allele was dominant over the other in the F 1 generation.

2. Principle of Segregation
When gametes are formed, the pairs of hereditary factors (genes) become separated, so
that each sex cell (egg/sperm) receives only one kind of gene.

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 3. Law of Independent Assortment
Alleles for different traits are distributed to sex cells (and offspring)
independently of one another. This law can be illustrated using dihybrid crosses.
“Members of one gene pair segregate independently from other gene pairs
during gamete formation”
*Genes get shuffled – these many combinations are one of the advantages of
sexual reproduction
Relation of gene segregation to meiosis
There‟s a correlation between the movement of chromosomes in meiosis and
the segregation of alleles that occurs in meiosis.

Dihybrid Cross

A breeding experiment that tracks the inheritance of two traits. Mendel‟s “Law of
Independent Assortment”
a. Each pair of alleles segregates independently during gamete formation
b. Formula: 2n (n = # of heterozygotes)

Example:

Traits: Seed shape & Seed color

RrYy x RrYy
Alleles: R round
r wrinkled
Y yellow
y green RY Ry rY ry RY Ry rY ry

All possible gamete combinations

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 RY Ry rY ry

RY RRYY RRYy RrYY RrYy

Round/Yellow: 9
Round/green: 3
Ry RRYy RRyy RrYy Rryy Wrinkled/Yellow: 3
Wrinkled/green: 1

rY RrYY RrYy rrYY rrYy Phenotypic ratio:

9:3:3:1

ry RrYy Rryy rrYy rryy

Incomplete Dominance and Codominance

F1 hybrids have an appearance somewhat in between the phenotypes of the two

parental varieties.
Example: snapdragons (flower)
Red (RR) x white (rr)
RR = red flower
rr = white flower

r r

Rr Rr Produces the F1
R generation

Rr Rr All Rr = pink
R (Heterozygous pink)

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 Incomplete Dominance

Codominance

Two alleles are expressed (multiple alleles) in heterozygous individuals.

Example: blood type
1. Type A = IAIA or IA i
2. Type B = IBIB or IB i
3. Type AB = IAIB
4. Type O = ii

Example: homozygous male Type B (IBIB) x heterozygous female Type A (IAi)

IA i

IB IAIB IBi
1/2 = IA IB

A B
1/2 = IB i
IBi
B
I I I

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Question:

If a boy has a blood type O and his sister has blood type AB, what are the genotypes and phenotypes
of their parents?
A B
Boy - type O (ii) X girl - type AB (I I )

IA i
ANSWER

IAIB Parents:
IB IBi

Genotypes = IA i and IB i

i IAi ii
Phenotypes = A and B

Summary of Module 3

• Chromosomes carry hereditary info (genes)

• Chromosomes (and genes) occur in pairs
• New combinations of genes occur in sexual reproduction
• Monohybrid vs. Dihybrid crosses

• Mendel‟s Principles:
– Dominance: one allele masks another
– Segregation: genes become separated in gamete formation
– Independent Assortment: Members of one gene pair segregate
independently from other gene pairs during gamete formation

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REFERENCES

Books:

 Ayala, F. J and J.A Kiger, Jr. 1984. Modern Genetics (2nd Edition). Benjamin
Cummings Pub. Co., Inc. Calif.
 Klug, W.S. and M.R Cummings. 1994. Concepts of genetics, 4th edition or latest
edition. MacMillan Publishing Co., New York.
 Hawlans, J.A. 1985. Gene structure& Expression.

Websites:

 https://knowgenetics.org/mendelian-genetics/
 https://biologydictionary.net/punnett-square/

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