Non-Mendelian Genetics

Inheritance Concepts Mendel

Never Imagined!
 Mendelian Genetics
(Complete Dominance)
 Only two possible Phenotypes: either
dominant or recessive

 Tall plant X Short plant = Tall plant

(TT) (tt) (Tt)
 Non-Mendelian Genetics
 But, not all inheritance is based on the
rules of Complete Dominance!!
 Introduction
 Mendelian Genetics describes inheritance
patterns based on Complete Dominance
or Recessiveness.
 There are other types of inheritance that
Mendel never considered:
 Incomplete Inheritance
 Codominance
NONMENDELIAN
 Multiple Alleles GENETICS
 Polygenic Traits
 Sex-linked
 Incomplete Inheritance
The hybrid (heterozygous) offspring
displays a THIRD Phenotype!! Neither trait
is completely dominant, as a result, there
appears to be a blending phenotype.
Red Flower X White Flower = Pink
(RR) (WW) (RW)
Incomplete Inheritance Problem
 What is the probability of pink flowers if
pink flowers are bred with red flowers?

R R 50%
chance
R RR RR of Pink
Flowers

W RW RW
Incomplete Inheritance Problem
 What is the probability of white flowers if
pink flowers are bred with pink flowers?
 CoDominance
 Both traits are dominant, and show up in
the phenotype together. Co means
“together”
 Black Cow X White Cow = Spotted Cow
(BB) (WW) (BW)
 CoDominance Problem
 What are all the possible phenotypes
when two spotted cows are bred?

B W Possible
phenotypes
are a black
B BB BW cow, 2
spotted

W BW WW cows, and a
white cow
 Below are imaginary organisms. Note horn shape, leg
length, fur color and tail shape. Now determine the type of
inheritance of the four traits by examining the genotypes of
the parents and offspring.
Blood type displays both co-dominance
and complete dominance
 Red Blood cells can either have a carbohydrate
on their surface or not.
 The presence of a carbohydrate (I) is dominant to the
absence of a carb (i).
 Additionally, there are two types of carbs that
may exist on the surface of RBCs called A (IA)
and B (IB).
 Cell surface carbs A and B are codominant, which
means they could also show up at the same time
on an RBC.
 Blood Type Inheritance Rules:
1. A person with the IA allele
will have A carbohydrates. Cells Genotypes Blood types

2. A person with the IB allele IAi, IAIA Type A

blood
will have B carbohydrates.
3. A person with the
recessive i allele will have
I i, I I
B B B Type B
blood
no carbohydrates.
4. Or a person with both IA II
A B Type AB
blood
and IB alleles will have
both A and
carbohydrates on their
B
ii Type O
blood
cells.
Blood Type Problems
If a woman with AB blood
has children with a man
who has type O, what will
be the possible genotypes
of their children? What will
be their blood types?

IA IB
i IA i IB i
i IA i IB i
Blood Type Problems
Blood Type Problem 2: A
woman with type B blood
has a child with type O
blood. How is this possible
if her husband has type A
blood?
 Multiple Alleles
 When more than 2 varieties exist in a trait.
Many animals have a variety of coat
colors.
 Multiple Alleles
 Another example of a trait controlled by multiple genes is
coat color in rabbits.
 There are four types of coat color in rabbits and each type
denotes specific alleles.
 The Agouti coat is pure black or yellow and sometimes
with patches.
 The Chinchilla coat appears silvery gray.
 Himalayan has white coats with black color on the
extremities.
 The fourth is the Albino coat that appears pure white due
to the absence of pigmentation.
 Polygenic Traits
Require more than one gene (allele) to
determine trait.
Skin tone is determined by 4-6 genes—that
means that there may be six different
chromosomes involved!
 Sex-linked Inheritance
 Genes for some traits are found on the sex
chromosomes (X or y)
 Most of these traits are recessive the normal
gene is dominant
 Heterozygous Females (XXc) are carriers. They
do not show the trait, but carry a gene for the
trait.
 Homozygous Females (XcXc) have the trait
 Males with the gene (XcY) have the trait.—They
do not have another X to counterbalance the
affected gene
 Color blindness is a sex-linked
recessive trait. The gene for this trait is
inherited through the X chromosome.

If a woman with normal vision

has children with a man
who is colorblind, Xc Y
what are the chances
that their children will be
colorblind?
X XXc XY
Will any children be carriers
of the trait? X XXc XY
 Non-Mendelian Genetics
What are the similarities and differences
between each of these forms of inheritance?
How will you remember? What are
examples of each type?
 Incomplete inheritance
 CoDominance
 Multiple Alleles
 Polygenic Traits
 Sex-linked inheritance