THE MECHANISM OF

INHERITANCE
 WHAT IS THE STUDY OF MECHANISMS OF INHERITANCE?
• GENETICS IS THE STUDY OF HOW HERITABLE TRAITS ARE TRANSMITTED FROM
PARENTS TO OFFSPRING. HUMANS HAVE LONG OBSERVED THAT TRAITS TEND TO BE
SIMILAR IN FAMILIES. IT WASN’T UNTIL THE MID-NINETEENTH CENTURY THAT LARGER
IMPLICATIONS OF GENETIC INHERITANCE BEGAN TO BE STUDIED SCIENTIFICALLY.
 5 MODES OF INHERITANCE PATERN
1. AUTOSOMAL DOMINANT
INHERITANCE

• FOR AN AUTOSOMAL
DOMINANT DISORDER, ONLY ONE
COPY OF A GIVEN ALLELE IS
NECESSARY TO PRODUCE THE
TRAIT. IF AN ANIMAL RECEIVES AN
ABNORMAL ALLELE FROM ONE
PARENT AND A NORMAL ALLELE
FROM THE OTHER PARENT, THE
ABNORMAL TRAIT WILL BE
EXPRESSED.
2. AUTOSOMAL RECESSIVE
INHERITANCE
- WITH AN AUTOSOMAL RECESSIVE
GENETIC DISORDER, AN ANIMAL MUST
RECEIVE TWO COPIES OF THE
ABNORMAL GENE (ONE FROM EACH
PARENT) IN ORDER TO SHOW SIGNS OF
THE DISORDER. IN MOST SITUATIONS,
THIS OCCURS WHEN BOTH PARENT
ANIMALS ARE ASYMPTOMATIC
CARRIERS OF THE DISORDER
 3. X-LINKED DOMINANT
- X-LINKED DOMINANT INHERITANCE IS A
WAY A GENETIC TRAIT OR CONDITION CAN
BE PASSED DOWN FROM PARENT TO
CHILD THROUGH MUTATIONS (CHANGES)
IN A GENE ON A SINGLE X CHROMOSOME.
IN FEMALES (WHO HAVE TWO X
CHROMOSOMES), A MUTATION IN A GENE
ON ONE OF THE X CHROMOSOMES IS
ENOUGH TO CAUSE THE CONDITION.