Biology Project (Genetics):-

Acknowledgement:
I would like to thank my teacher who gave me the
opportunity to do this wonderful project on the
topic ‘Genetics’. Secondly, I would also like to
thank my parents who greatly helped me in this
project.
Introduction:-
Genetics is termed the study to understand the
functioning of inheritance of traits from parents to
offspring. The groundwork on which heredity
stands is known as inheritance. It is defined as the
procedure by which characteristics are handed
down from one generation to the other. Gregor
Johann Mendel is known as the “Father of Modern
Genetics” for his discoveries on the basic
principles of heredity.
The genetic composition of organisms within the
population changes is denoted as genetic variation.
The following factors contribute to genetic
variation:
 Mutation
 Random fertilisation
 Random mating between organisms
  Crossing over among chromatids of
homologous chromosomes during meiosis
Mendel’s Experiment on Genetics:
Characteristics of Pea Plants:
The characteristics of a pea plant are:
1.Colour of seed (green or yellow)
2.The shape of the seed (round or wrinkled)
3.Colour of the pod (green or yellow)
4.The shape of the pod (constricted or inflated)
5.Size of the plant (tall or dwarf)
6.Position of flowers (axial or terminal)
7.Colour of flower (purple or white)
The reasons why Mendel chose garden pea
plants for his experiments:
 They are easy to cultivate.
 Their life cycle is quite short.
 The flowers of the pea plant are bisexual.
Besides performing self-pollination, these
plants can undergo cross-pollination if it is
performed on them.
 The true-breeding or pure plants can be easily
obtained through self-pollination.
  Their characteristics can be distinguished
properly without any difficulty. This means
that the traits in this plant can be easily
observed (for example; tall versus dwarf
plant).
 These plants possess large flowers. Therefore,
anthers (male) can be easily removed to make
this flower cross with the pollen from another
flower.
Monohybrid Cross:
A monohybrid cross is the hybrid of two
individuals with homozygous genotypes which
result in the opposite phenotype for a certain
genetic trait.”
The cross between two monohybrid traits (TT and
tt) is called a Monohybrid Cross.
Monohybrid cross is responsible for the
inheritance of one gene. It can be easily shown
through Punnett Square.
Monohybrid cross is used by geneticists to observe
how homozygous offspring express heterozygous
genotypes inherited from their parents.
Dihybrid Cross:
A dihybrid cross is a breeding experiment between
two organisms that are identical hybrids for two
traits. In other words, a dihybrid cross is a cross
between two organisms, with both being
heterozygous for two different traits. The
individuals in this type of trait are homozygous for
a specific trait. These traits are determined by
DNA segments called genes.
In a dihybrid cross, the parents carry different pair
of alleles for each trait. One parent carries a
homozygous dominant allele, while the other one
carries a homozygous recessive allele. The
offsprings produced after the crosses in the F1
generation are all heterozygous for specific traits.

Mendel’s Laws of Inheritance:-

Law of dominance:
The ‘Law of Dominance’ states that hybrid
offspring will only inherit the dominant trait in the
phenotype. The alleles that are suppressed are
called the recessive traits while the alleles that
determine the trait are known as the dominant
traits.
Law of Segregation:-
The ‘Law of Segregation’ states that during the
production of gametes, two copies of each
hereditary factor segregate so that offspring
acquire one factor from each parent. In other
words, allele (alternative form of the gene) pairs
segregate during the formation of gamete and re-
unite randomly during fertilization.

Law of Independent Assortment:-

The ‘Law of Independent Assortment states that a
pair of traits segregate independently of another
pair during gamete formation. As the individual
heredity factors assort independently, different
traits get equal opportunities to occur together.

Sex-Linked Inheritance:-
Sex-linked inheritance is a biological process that
involves the transmission of traits or characters from
parents to offspring. X and Y are two sex chromosomes
that carry alleles at their gene loci. These traits that are
being transferred from one generation to the next
generation are present on autosomes or sex
chromosomes, i.e., the X chromosome or the Y
chromosome.
Sex-linked genes are located on the X chromosome
resulting in X-linkage. Similarly, Y-linkage refers to the
gene which is present on the Y chromosome. Since
females are homogametic with XX chromosome and
males have XY chromosome, the Y-linked traits are
transmitted via males only.
Certain diseases are linked to the X chromosome but
are recessive, where females act as a carrier if they
have only one copy of defective genes, such as colour
blindness, haemophilia, etc. Males are heterozygous;
hence, they are more prone to get sex-linked disorders
because only one defective copy of genes is sufficient to
cause diseases.
Diseases Related to Sex-Linked Inheritance:
1.Colour blindness can be simply defined as
trouble in seeing or identifying colours like
blue, green and red.
2.Haemophilia is characterized by uncontrolled
bleeding and the inability of the blood to clot
properly. Even a small cut or a minor injury
can result in severe bleeding.
 3.Haemophilia and colour blindness are
caused due to the expression of recessive
genes present on the 'X' chromosome.

Limitations of Mendelian Principles:

The major limitations of Mendel’s principles
are due to the following facts:
1. Dominance did not occur in every case of
contrasting characters.
2. Blending type of inheritance may occur in many
crosses.
3. Sometimes two dominants come together to
form co-dominance e.g. in blood group inheritance
(MN group).
4. Non-allelic gene interaction like epistasis,
inhibiting factors, presence of complementary
gene and additive factors etc.
5. Linkages between different genes.
6. Non-disjunctions (non-separation of
homologous chromosomes) of chromosomes
during the time of formation of gametes (i.e.
during Meiosis).
7. Multiple factors (gene), that may or may not be
allelic, for a single trait (e.g. skin colour, height
and weight of human) and their inheritance.
8. Pleiotropic effect of a gene i.e. a gene having
influences on more than one trait.
9. Allelism i.e. the presence of a series of
alternative genes at a given locus in a
chromosome.
10. Differential penetrance power (complete or
incomplete) and expressivity of a given gene at
different times.