TOPIC 1

ACCUMULATION OF VARIATIONS DURING REPRODUCTION

Learning Objectives
 Students will understand about the variations that arise during the
process of reproduction.
 Students will get familiar with the word ‘Heredity’.
Learning Outcomes
 Students will be able to interpret that selection of variants by
environmental factors form the basis for evolutionary processes.
Real Life Application
You must have seen students in your classroom having different eye colors. Have
you ever tried to know the reason behind such variations? Most of the time eye
color is categorized as blue, green/hazel, or brown. Brown is the most frequent
eye color which you may have seen.
You know that eye color is determined by variations in a person’s genes. It is
directly related to the amount of melanin in the front layers of the iris. People
with brown eyes are known to have a large amount of melanin in the iris, while
people with blue eyes consists much less of this pigment.

Variations may be shown in physical appearance, mode of reproduction, fertility,

behavior, learning and mental ability, and other measurable characters. At first,
it was known that parents who both had blue eyes could not have a child with
brown eyes because it is uncommon for parents with blue eyes having children
with brown eyes.
But, the inheritance of eye color is more complex than it is suspected because
multiple genes are involved in this inheritance. While a child’s eye color can often
be predicted by the eye colors of his or her parents and other relatives, genetic
variations, sometimes, produce unexpected results. Let us now study more about
such variations in this topic.
Heredity can be defined as resemblances among individuals related by
descent or the transmission of traits from parents to the offsprings. It means

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continuity of features from one generation to the next.Variation is defined
as the occurrence of differences in the characters (or traits) among the
individuals. In a number of sexually reproducing animals, including human
beings, quite distinct variations are visible among different individuals. The
long term accumulation of variations may lead to gradual changes in the
form or functions of organisms and may even lead to the formation of a new
species over time.
In case an organism reproduces by asexual reproduction, one organism
gives rise to two individuals which are similar in body design, but having
subtle differences. These will, in turn, give rise to two individuals in the next
generation. In this way, the four individuals formed will be different from each
other.
If sexual reproduction is involved, greater diversity will be generated in the
offsprings as compared to asexual reproduction where only minor differences
would be generated due to small inaccuracies in DNA copying. Depending
on the nature of variations, different individuals would have different kinds of
advantages. Selection of variants by environmental factors form the basis for
evolutionary processes.
Example 1. Real Life Based:
Mahak observed the eyes of all the 30 students of her class for eye colour.
She found 28 students had either black or brown eyes, only two had blue
eyes. Based on this observation, suggest a possible rule for the inheritance
of eye colour.(Create)
Breakdown
Total Marks
(As per CBSE Marking Scheme)
Identify the phenomenon. (1m)
Find the dominant and recessive trait
2
for eye colour by calculating the
percentage of each traits. (1m)
Ans. P
 resence of black or brown or blue colour of eyes is an example of
variation in human propulation. The observations recorded by Mahak
suggest that vast majority of students have brown or black eye colour.
For an instance,
Percentage of occurence of black or brown eye colour trait in the class
= 28 × 100 = 93.33%
30
Precentage of occurence of blue colour
2
= × 100 = 6.67%
30

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 This suggests that black or brown colour is dominant and blue colour is a
recessive trait in human population.
Example 2. Real Life Based:
My sister had striking resemblance with my mother and I resemble a great
deal with my grandmother. I am very curious to know about it. Explain.
(Evaluate)
Ans. Similarities and dissimilarities among the members of a species are
not coincidental. These are transmitted or inherited from parents to the
offspring i.e., from one generation to the next generation through genes.

•
•
•

4 Science Class X
 OBJECTIVE Type Questions
[ 1 mark ]
Multiple Choice Questions
1. The image shows the traits present across generations of a family.
Blue eyes Brown eyes
First generation
-Grandparents

Second generation
- Parents

Third generation
- Grandchildren

Fourth generation
- Great grandchildren

Based on the image, what can be inferred about the eye color trait?
(a) Acquired trait because both male and females have it.
(b) Acquired trait because it is expressed in all the generations.
(c) Inherited trait because it is expressed in two different colors.
(d) Inherited trait because it depends on the traits of preceding
generation.
[CBSE Question Bank 2022]
Ans. (d) Inherited trait because it depends on the traits of preceding
generation.
Explanation: The traits which are transmitted their from the parents
to their offspring during the process of fertilization are called inher-
ited traits. The inheritance of trait depends on some rules of hered-
ity. Inherited traits are coded in our DNA and hence can be passed
on to the next generation. Acquired traits are the characters devel-
oped in an individual as a result of environmental influence. They are
not coded by the DNA of a living organism and therefore, can not be
passed to the next generation.
Assertion-Reason Questions
These questions consist of two statements – Assertion (A) and Reason
(R). Answer these questions selecting the appropriate option given
below:
(a) Both (A) and (R) are true and (R) is the correct explanation of (A)
(b) Both (A) and (R) are true and (R) is not the correct explanation of (A)

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 (c) (A) is true but (R) is false
(d) (A) is false but (R) is true
2. Assertion (A): Offspring produced by sexual reproduction show
variation.
Reason (R): Each offspring produced by sexual reproduction
inherits all the genes from each parent.
[CBSE Question Bank 2023]
Ans. (c) (A) is true but (R) is false.
Explanation: Variation is shown by the offspring produced through
sexual reproduction as humans have similar basic structure but sill
differ in physical features such as height, facial features etc., through
which we can be easily distinguished from our parents. We don’t
inherit all the traits from each of our parents because out of 46
chromosomes, 23 are from sperm and the remaining 23 from the
egg.

CASE BASED Questions (CBQs)

[ 4 & 5 marks ]
Read the following passages and answer the questions that follow:
3. Observe the ears of all the students in the class. The lowest part of the
ear, called the earlobe, is closely attached to the side of the head in some
of us, and not in others. Free and attached earlobes are two variants
found in human populations.

The percentage of people having free earlobes and attached earlobes is

(a) (b)

shown below:

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 Free earlobes Attached earlobes

16%

84%

(A) The earlobes of a child whose parents have free earlobes will be:
(a) free earlobe
(b) attached earlobe
(c) can be free or attached earlobe
(d) neither free nor attached.
(B) Mrs. and Mr. Sharma have six children. Three of them have
attached earlobes like their father, and the other three have free
earlobes like their mother.
Taking F for free earlobes and f for attached earlobes, select the
row containing the correct genotype of parents and children from
the table below:
Mrs. Sharma Mr. Children Children
Sharma with Free with
Earlobes Attached
Earlobes
(a) FF ff FF ff
(b) Ff ff Ff ff
(c) FF Ff FF Ff
(d) Ff Ff Ff ff

Ans. (A) (c) can be free or attached earlobe

Explanation: Parents with free earlobes can have both a copy of
the dominant and recessive allele and they may give birth to a
baby with free or attached earlobes.
(B) (b)Mrs. Sharma: Ff; Mr. Sharma: ff; Children with free earlobes: Ff;
Children with attached earlobes: ff
Explanation: All of the individuals with attached earlobes must be
ff. All of the individuals with free earlobes can be FF or ff. In this
particular case, the parent having free earlobe has children who
have attached earlobes, so that parent must have a f, and is thus

Heredity 7
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 Ff. And all of the children have one parent with attached earlobes,
so they must also all have at least one f, and are thus Ff. So the
answer is, Mr. Sharma is ff, Mrs. Sharma is Ff. The three children
with attached earlobes are ff, and the three with free earlobes are
Ff.

VERY SHORT ANSWER Type Questions (VSA)

[ 1 mark ]

4. Mendel took tall pea plants and short pea plants and produced F1
progeny through cross-fertilisation. What did Mendel observe in the
F1 progeny? [CBSE 2018]
Ans.When Mendel cross fertilized tall pea plants and short pea plants, he
observed that all plants in the F1 progeny were tall.
Related theory
 When these F1 progeny are self crossed, he observed that the F2 progeny are
not all tall. The ratio of tall plants to dwarf plants comes to be approximately
3 : 1.
This indicates that both the tallness (T) and shortness (t) traits were inherited in the
F1 plants, but only the tallness trait was expressed.
Above experiment led Mendel to propose that two copies of factor (now called
genes) controlling traits are present in sexually reproducing organisms.
Traits like ‘T’ which are expressed are called dominant traits, while traits like ‘t’ are
called recessive traits.

Caution
 Students usually get confused between F1 and F2 generation and make mistake
while writing the answers. F1 is the first generation obtained when gametes fuse.
When F1 generation make gametes, these gametes fuse to form F2 generation.

SHORT ANSWER Type-I Questions (SA-I)

[ 2 marks ]

5. If
a pure tall pea plant is crossed with a pure dwarf pea plant, then in
F1 generation only tall plants appear. What happens to the traits of
the dwarf plant?
Ans. Although in F1 generation only the tall plants appear, both the tallness
and dwarfness traits are inherited in the F1 plants but as the tallness trait
is dominant, it is expressed, whereas, dwarfness trait being recessive is
not expressed. It is expressed in F2 generation.

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 SHORT ANSWER Type-II Questions (SA-II)
[ 3 marks ]

6. Which plant Mendel used for his experiments? What type of progeny
was obtained by Mendel in F1 and F2 generations when he crossed
the tall and short plant? Write the ratio he obtained in F2 generation
plants. [CBSE 2019]
Ans.The name of plant used by Mendel for his experiments was: Garden Pea
(Pisum sativum)
When Mendel crossed pure tall plant having genotype ‘TT’ with pure dwarf
plant having genotype ‘tt’, progeny obtained in F1 generation were all tall.
Mendel then crossed the tall pea plants of the first generation and found
that 75 % or three quarter of the F2 progeny were tall and 25 % or one
quarter of them were short.
Ratio obtained in F2 generation:
Phenotype Tall : Short = 3 : 1
Genotype TT : Tt : tt = 1 : 2: 1

LONG ANSWER Type Questions (LA)

[ 4 & 5 marks ]
7. How sexual reproduction creates genetic variation which is needed
for better adaptation to changing environment? Provide a suitable
explanation. [Diksha]
Ans. Sexual reproduction increases genetic variation in offspring, which in turn
increases the genetic variability in species.
Independent Assortment of Chromosomes: Independent assortment
occurs when homologous chromosomes separate.
Random Combination of Genes During Fertilization: Fertilization
produces random combinations of genetically diverse sperm and
eggs, creating virtually unlimited possibilities for variation. Millions of
genetically different sperm swimming toward an egg. Fertilization is
random.
New Genetic Combination During Crossing over: When homologous
chromosomes come together during prophase I of meiosis, they exchange
small segment of DNA with each other. This crossing-over resuIts in new
gene combinations and new chances for variety.

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 Caution
 Students usually get confused and do not know how to apply the laws
of Mendel. They should be clear with their concept so that they can
identify the law to be applied in a given particular situation.

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VERY SHORT ANSWER Type Questions (VSA)

[ 1 mark ]
A Mendelian experiment consisted of breeding pea plants bearing
violet flowers with pea plants bearing white flowers. What will
be the result in F1 progeny?
Ans.

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