Heredity And Evolution GENETICS: Branch of biology dealing with the study of heredity and variations.

ALLELES: Alleles are a pair of genes that occupy a specific location on a

Inherited traits – from parents – skin colour, hair, health factors
particular chromosome and control the same trait. Alleles may have multiple
Acquired traits – by practice – technical skills, music, play skill
forms. They may be present in homozygous state or heterozygous state.
He worked on Sweet pea plant (pisum sativum). The reasons for the selection of
Dominant alleles – if an allele expresses itself when it is present with an alternate
pea plants for the genetic experiments are
form, then it is a dominant allele. For example, “T” to express tallness.
 Easy to grow in the garden/ in less time
 The flowers have bisexual characteristics.
Recessive alleles – An allele that expresses itself only when it is present in a
 Easy to obtain pure breed plant through self-fertilization
homozygous state is called a recessive allele. For example – “t” for shortness.
He observed the pattern of inheritance from one generation to the other in these
Homozygous – Each organism has two alleles for every gene. If both the alleles
plants. And thus he came up with Mendel’s Laws of Inheritance:
are same then it is called homozygous.
Law of Dominance: In a cross between two pea plants with one pair of contrasting
Heterozygous – If the two alleles are different from each other, then they are
characters, For Example, a cross between a tall pea plant and a short (dwarf) plant.
heterozygous in nature.
In the first generation (F1), the progeny were tall. There was no medium height
plant.
GENOTYPE: genetic composition of the trait in an individual, eg – pure tall-TT,
In the second generation (F2), 1/4th were short and 3⁄4 were tall. Phenotypic ratio
hybrid tall-Tt
in F2 is 3: 1
PHENOTYPE: Visible traits of an individual. Eg – Tallness or Dwarfness.
Tallness is a dominant trait in pea plants and it is expressed, shortness is a
recessive trait and it remains suppressed.
EVOLUTION: gradual changes in traits of organisms from pre existing organisms
is called evolution.
Law of Segregation: In a cross between two pea plants with two pairs of
contrasting characters, one dominant and one recessive, the F1 generation is 100%
Species: A group of similar individuals within a population that can interbreed and
hybrid.
produce fertile offspring.
When RRyy crosses with rrYY, all were Rr Yy with round and yellow seeds in the
first generation. The Round and Yellow seeds are the dominant characters.
Speciation: The process by which new species develop from the existing species is
In F2, the phenotype ratio is 9:3:3:1. The genotype ratio is a very complex one.
known as speciation. Factors which lead to speciation : Geographical isolation,
This shows that the genes are inherited independently of each other.
genetic drifts and variations.
Principle of Independent Assortment: in the second experiment we see that the
Gene flow: It is exchange of genetic material by interbreeding between
genes are mixed independent of each other.
populations of same species or individuals
HEREDITY: Transmission of features or characters from one generation to
GENETIC DRIFT: It is the random change in the frequency of alleles (gene pair)
another or from parents to offspring through their genes
in a population over successive generations.
VARIATION: It occurs due to sexual reproduction, inaccuracies during DNA
Natural Selection: The process by which nature selects and consolidates those
replication (mutation) and due to environmental factors.
organisms which are more suitably adapted and possesses favourable variations.