GRADE: 10 HEREDITY & EVOLUTION BOARD QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

1 In human beings, the statistical probability of getting either a male or a female child is 50:50. Give
reasons and explain with the help of diagram.
A

A child who inherits an X chromosome from his father would be a girl (XX) while the child who
inherits as Y chromosome from the father would be a boy (XY)
2 Explain with the help of diagram how sex of a child is determined at the time of conception in
human beings.
A Male has heterozygous chromosomes X, Y. Female has homozygous – X, X. So when X of male fuses
with female gamete X- results is a girl and when Y of male fuses with X of female it results in male
being formed.

3 (a) Name the scientist who worked out the rules of inheritance.
(b) Mention any two strategies that are used by different species for determining sex of their new
born.
A (a) Mendel
(b) Some rely on environment cues. In some animals the temperature at which fertilized egg is kept
determines its sex. In snails, individuals can change sex, indicating that sex is not genetically
determined.
4 (a) Differentiate between dominant and recessive traits.
(b) ‘Genes control traits’. Explain this statement with an example.
A (a) The trait that appears dominant in the progenies when breeds of different traits are crossed are
called dominant traits. The trait which though appears in progenies but is not so conspicuous is
called recessive trait.

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 (b) Consider tallness as a characteristic. Plant height depends on particular plant hormone which in
turn will depend on the efficiency of the process for making it. If the enzyme responsible for the
production of this hormone is efficient, plant will be tall. If the gene for that enzyme has an
alteration that makes enzyme less efficient, the amount of hormone will be less and plant will be
short.
5 What are the sex Chromosomes?
A These are 23rd pair of chromosome.
Sex chromosomes – ‘XY’ in male ‘XX’ pair in female.
6 Mendel crossed the round and green seeded pea plants with the wrinkled and yellow seeded pea
plants. Give the phenotypic ratio of F2 generation.
A Fig 9.5 of NCERT book.
7 In Mendel’s monohybrid cross between tall and short pea plants, all off springs were tall. What
does this tell us about the trait? What is the ratio of tall and short plants in the F2 generation?
A

T t
T TT Tt
(Tall) (Tall)
t Tt tt
(Tall) (short)
The ratio of Tall to short plants in F2 generation is 3:1.
8 How is sex determined in human beings? Give an example where sex determination is regulated by
environmental factors.
A The sex of human individual is genetically determined. Human females have a pair of X
chromosomes while human males have one X and one Y chromosomes in their cells. Females
produce one type of ova whereas males produce two types of sperms – X type and Y type. When
an X type sperm meets with the ovum, a female child is born and when a Y type sperm meets with
an ovum a male child is born. Thus half the children will be boys and half will be girls. The sex of the
children will be determined by what they inherit from their fathers.
In snail sex is determined by environmental factors (temperature )
9 Mention any two contrasting traits noted by Mendel in garden pea plant. Show Mendel’s
monohybrid cross using any one of those traits.
A

T t
T TT Tt
(Tall) (Tall)
t Tt tt
(Tall) (short)
The ratio of Tall to short plants in F2 generation is 3:1.

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10 The sex of the baby is determined by the father. Justify.
A The sex of the human individual is genetically determined. Human female have a pair of X
chromosomes while human males have one X and one Y chromosomes in their cells. Females
produce one type of ova whereas males produce two types of sperms – X type and Y type. When
an X type sperm meets with the ovum, a female child is born and when a Y type sperm meets with
an ovum a male child is born. Thus half the children will be boys and half will be girls. Thus the sex
of the children will be determined by what they inherit from their father.
11 Trace the F1 generation formed by crossing two plants with separate traits for shape and seed
colour- round green (RRyy) and wrinkled yellow(rrYY). Mention the characteristic exhibited by it.
A

12 How is the sex of a new born determined genetically in humans?

A Humans have one pair of sex chromosomes along with 22 identical pairs of chromosomes. Women
have a perfect pair of sex chromosomes. Men have one X and one Y. All the children will inherit X
chromosomes from their mother. The child who inherits the X chromosome from the father will be
a girl.
13 With the help of a cross done with garden pea plants, trace the work done by Mendel with a tall
and a short plant to arrive at a 3: 1 ratio in the F2 generation.
A

14 The genotype of green stemmed tomato plants is denoted by GG and that of purple stemmed
tomato plants as gg. When these two plants are crossed:
(a) What colour of stem would you expect in their F1 progeny?
(b) Give the percentage of purple-stemmed plants if F1 plants are self-pollinated.
(c) In what ratio would you find the green and purple colour in the F2 progeny?
A (a) Green colour (b) 25% (c) 3:1
15 “It is a matter of chance whether a couple will give birth to a boy or a girl.” Justify the statement.
A Women have XX sex chromosomes and males have XY sex chromosomes. Females produces all
gametes having X chromosome while male produces two types of gametes one having X
chromosome and another having Y chromosome. The sex of the offspring will depend on what they
inherit from father. Offspring inheriting X chromosomes from father will be females and those
inheriting Y chromosomes will be males.

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16 How do Mendel experiments show that traits may be dominant or recessive?
A When Mendel cross pollinated a pure male tall pea plant with pure female dwarf pea plant, he got
only tall plants in F1 generation. When F1 tall plants were self-pollinated, Mendel got both tall and
dwarf plants in F2 generation in the ratio 3:1. The trait of dwarfness was present in F1 generation
but was not expressed and only trait of tallness was expressed. The character which gets expressed
in the presence of its contrasting form is termed dominant trait. The trait which remains
unexpressed in the presence of its contrasting from is termed recessive trait.
17 (a) Name the type of sex chromosome present in: (i) human male and (ii) human female.
(b) What will be the sex of the offspring if a sperm carrying X – Chromosome fertilizes the egg?
(c) Why is DNA copying essential?
A (a) (i) XY (ii) XX;
(b) The sex of the offspring will be female.
(c) DNA copying is essential for the inheritance of traits from parents to the off spring.
18 (a) Define genetics. (b) Who is regarded as the “Father of Genetics”? Name the plant on which he
performed his experiments. (c) Why did he select that specific plant for his experimental studies?
A (a) Genetics is the branch of biology that deals with the study of heredity and variations.
(b) Gregor Johann Mendel Garden pea.
(c) Garden pea plants were easily available/they grow in one season/fertilization was easy. (any
two)
19 (a) Name the unit of inheritance. What is its function?
(b) How are inherited traits different from acquired traits? Give example.
A (a) Gene. it is the carrier of genetic information from one generation to another.
(b) The traits that are obtained from parents are inherited traits. E.g. Fused and free ear lobes. The
traits that develop during lifetime of an individual are acquired traits E.g. Muscular body of a
wrestler.
20 Show inheritance of two characters over two generations by making a cross between round and
yellow seeded plant (RRYY) with wrinkled and green seeded plant (rryy).
A

21 “Genetic composition of the father plays a deciding role in determining the gender of the new-born
child.” Comment and support your answer with a suitable illustration.
A Father plays a deciding role. Sex chromosomes of males are X and Y while females are only X. Cross
on page – 146 of NCERT – fig- 9.6.

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22 In a cross between plants with purple flowers and plants with white flowers the off springs of F1
generation all had white flowers. When the F1 generation was self – crossed, it was observed in the
F2 generation that out of 100, 75 flowers were white. Make a cross and answer the following: -
(a) What are the genotypes of the F2 progeny?
(b) What is the ratio of White : Purple flowers in the F2 generation ?
A (a) Monohybrid cross
(b) WW, Ww, ww
(c) 3 : 1
23 Name the organism Mendel used for his experiment. Explain about F1 and F2 progeny obtained by
Mendel when he cross-bred the tall and the short varieties of the organism he experimented with.
A Garden Pea.

24 The genetic trait of green stemmed tomato plants is denoted as GG, that of purple stemmed
tomato plant as gg. When these two are crossed.
(a) What colour of stem would you expect in their F1 progeny?
(b) Give the percentage of purple stemmed plants if F1 plants are self-pollinated.
(c) In what ratio would you find the genetic traits GG and Gg in the F2 progeny?
A

25 How does Mendel’s experiment show that the traits may be dominant or recessive?
A Description of Mendel’s experiment with any visible characteristics of garden peas:
(i) He took tall plant and a short plant produced progeny from them and calculated percentage of
tall or shot progeny.
(ii) In F1 progeny all plants were tall i.e. only one of the parental trait was seen.
(iii) In F2, progeny of the F1 tall plants are not all tall. Instead one quarter of them are short.
(iv) Thus both traits – tallness and shortness are inherited in the F1 plants but only one is expressed
dominantly and other trait remains recessive.
26 A husband has 46 chromosomes; his wife has 46 chromosomes. Then why don't their offspring
have 46 pairs of chromosomes, which is obtained by the fusion of male and female gametes?
Support your answer with a neat illustration.

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A Male individual has 46 chromosomes but because the gametes are always haploid, i.e. they have
half the no. of chromosomes; sperms will be haploid (23 chromosomes) Female individual also
contains only 23 chromosomes in egg. It is the fusion of this sperm and egg which leads to an
offspring with 46 chromosomes.
27 Briefly explain Mendel's findings with respect to:
(a) Dominant and recessive characters.
(b) Independent inheritance of traits.
A (a) Dominant characters: Few characters express themselves in the presence of recessive
characters.
Recessive characters: Few characters cannot express themselves in the presence of dominant
characters.
In a cross all the recessive and dominant characters are visible. This is law of segregation.
(b) If the pea plants with following two traits are crossed. Parent with tall and round seed crossed
with dwarf and wrinkled seed.

9 Tall round: 3 Tall wrinkled: 3 short round, 1 short wrinkled. Thus, the tall/short trait and
round/wrinkled seed trait are inherited independently.
28 In the following crosses, write the characteristics of the progeny:

A (a) 9 - Round and yellow; 3 - Round and green; 3 - Wrinkled and yellow; 1 - Wrinkled and green.
(b) All are wrinkled and green. (c) All are round and yellow.
29 Mendel studied the inheritance pattern of traits in a pea plant. According to this study, he obtained
9 : 3 : 3 : 1 ratio for certain traits in progeny of F-2 generations. Based on it answer these questions:
(i) Which trait did he study? How do they represent themselves?
(ii) What was the trait of progeny of F-1?
(iii) Which rule does this inheritance pattern suggest?
A (a) Colour of the seed and shape of the seed.

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 (b) Round and yellow; (c) Law of independent assortment
30 (i) Define variation in context of development of species.
(ii) Why is tendency to variation during reproduction is beneficial for a species? Write any two
reasons.
A (i) Variation is the difference in the characters or traits among the individuals of the same species.
(ii) Variation is beneficial for a species because: (a) They enable the organism to adapt themselves
in the changing environment.
(b) They form the basis of inheritance.
(c) They form the raw materials for the evolution and development of the new species. (any two)
31 In fruit flies the sex chromosomes in males is XY and in females is XX.
(i) Does a male fly inherit X chromosome from his mother or father?
(ii) How many different types of gametes can a female fly produce?
(iii) How many different types of gametes can a male fly produce?
A (i) From mother (ii) X and X (iii) X and Y.
32 Heredity is the branch of science that deals with transmission of characters from one generation to
the other. Name the father of genetics. Name the plant that he worked with to give various laws of
inheritance. Do you think he would have succeeded in his study had he chosen any other plant?
Why?
A George Mendel; Garden pea. No because the plant that he chose had lots of contrasting characters
and did not show blending of characters or any intermediated expression in case of heterozygous
gene pairs.
33 Distinguish between inherited and acquired characters. Give one example for each type.
A (i) Characters that are passed on from parents to offspring are inherited characters. For example,
colour of seeds, colour of eyes etc.
(ii) Characters appearing in an individual’s life time but cannot be transmitted to next generation
are acquired characters - For example, obese body.
34 Given below is the experiment carried out by Mendel to study inheritance of two traits in garden
pea.

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 (a) What do A, B, C, D, E, F and G represent in these boxes? (b) State the objective for which
Mendel performed this experiment.
A (a) A→ RY; B – rY; C – Rr-Yy; D→ 9; E→ 3; F 3: G→ 1.
(b) To study the independent inheritance of two traits in subsequent generation.
35 Mention the function of cellular DNA. Taking tallness as a characteristic for a plant, explain how
proteins control the characteristic.
A Cellular DNA is the information source for making proteins in the cell. Plants have hormone that
can trigger growth. The amount of this hormone made depends on the efficiency of the process for
making it. An enzyme is necessary for this process. If this enzyme works efficiently, a lot of
hormone will be made and the plant will be tall.
If the gene for that enzyme has an alteration that makes this enzyme less efficient, the amount of
hormone will be less and plant will be short.
36 A pea plant with tall plant and violet flowers (TtVV) were crossed to short plant with white flowers
(ttvv). Find out the phenotypes and genotypes of offspring obtained as a result of this cross.
A

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