How Genes interact

By the end you should be able to:

Define epistasis

Describe the way in which genes interact

Determine the phenotype of offspring from

parental genotypes
Explain what X inactivation is

Recap

So far we have looked at dominant and

recessive alleles. However, it is very rare for
a characteristic to be controlled by a single
gene.
Today we will look at how genes interact with
one another.

Epistasis

In order to see some genes it is sometimes

necessary for other genes not to be
expressed.

Look at the two boxes

They both have six sections but because the

background of the box on the right is black
you cannot see the lines.

Tabby Cat

This cat has black

stripes. We can see
these stripes
because the rest of
its fur is a light
colour.

Black Cat

This cat could also

have stripes but
because the rest of
its fur is black we
cannot tell.

So.....

For a cat to be a
tabby cat it needs
both the alleles for
stripes and also the
alleles for a light
undercoat so that
the stripes can be
seen.

How is this controlled?

In tabby cats there are two different genes

involved.
The first gene control whether the cat has is
the Agouti gene- this determines grey bands
or solid black. There is the dominant A and
the recessive a. A means stripes and a means
solid coat colour.
AA or Aa = Grey bands

The 2nd allele involved is the allele for coat

pattern. There are three possible alleles:

T= Vertical stripes

TB= Freckled

tb= Blotched

TT, or Ttb = Vertical stripes

TTB, TBTB or TBtb = Freckled

tbtb = Blotched

Work out the phenotypes for the

following:

aatbtb

AaTT

AATTB

AaTtb

Work out the phenotypes for the

following:

aatbtb

= Black solid

AaTT = Vertical stripes

AATTB = Freckled

AaTtb = Vertical stripes

Draw a Punnett for the following

cross

AAtbtb

aaTT

First work out what the gametes will bethen decide on the genotypes and phenotype
of the offspring.

X inactivation

As females have two

copies of the x
chromosome early in
the development of
the of the embryo
one x chromosome in
each cell is
supercoiled to
prevent
transcription. This
supercoiled

The process seems to be random so groups

of cells in females will have different
different X chromosomes inactivated.

This process can lead to interesting coat

colouration. If the X chromosome from the
father has the gene for a orange coat and
the X chromosome from the mother has a

Male cats are

black or
orange

Female
cats are
blotched

Have we learned?
By the end you should be able to:

Define epistasis

Describe the way in which genes interact

Determine the phenotype of offspring from

parental genotypes
Explain what X inactivation is