Wisdom World School

Session- 2022-23
Grade X Biology
Chapter-09
Heredity and Evolution
Heredity
The transmission of characters (or traits) from parents to offspring is called heredity.

The hereditary information is present in the sex cells (or gametes) of the parents. Thus,
gametes constitute the link between one generation and the next and pass on the
paternal (father's) and maternal (mother's) characters or traits to the offspring.

Variations: the differences in characters (or traits) among individuals of a population is

called variation.
E.g., the free earlobes and attached earlobes are the two variations found in human
population. The variation is a necessity for organic evolution.

Inheritance: Inheritance is the transmission of genetically controlled characteristics (or

traits) from one generation to the next.

Accumulation of Variations
The significance of a variation shows up only if it continues to be inherited by the
offspring for several generations. For example, suppose a bacterium produces two
bacteria by asexual reproduction. Again, suppose that one of the offspring bacterium
has a variation due to which it can tolerate a little higher temperature than the other
one. Now, this variation of little more heat resistance will go on accumulating in the
offsprings of successive generations of this bacterium. And this will ultimately give rise
to a variant of bacteria which will be highly heat resistant and able to survive even at
very high temperatures.
The great advantage of variation to a species is that it increases the chances of its
survival in changing environment, For example, the accumulation of ‘heat resistant'
variation (or trait) in some bacteria will ensure its survival even when the temperature in
its environment rises too much due to a heat was a some other reasons. On the other
hand, the bacteria which did not have this variation to withstand heat.

Some important definitions/terms

1. Chromosome: it is a thread-like structure in the nucleus of a cell formed of DNA

which carries the genes.
2. Genes: A segment of DNA which codes for a particular protein is known as gene.
Genes are units of inheritance which transfer characters (or traits) from parents to
their offspring during reproduction.
Genes controlling the same characteristics are given the same letters. For example,
the gene for tallness is represented TT gene tor dwarfness is represented by the letter
tt. The letters T and t represent two forms of the same gene (which controls the length
of an organism). There are two alternate forms of gene.
3. Dominant gene: The gene which expresses itself in F1 hybrid generation is known
as dominant gene.
4. Recessive gene: The gene which is unable to express itself in presence of the
dominant gene.
The dominant gene is represented by a capital letter (TT) and the corresponding
recessive gene is represented by the corresponding small letter (tt).

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 5. Genotype: It is the genetic constitution of an organism which determines the
phenotypic characters. A pure tall plant is expressed as TT and hybrid tall as Tt.
6. Phenotype: t is the outward appearance of an individual. E.g., tallness, dwarfness
etc.
7. Progeny: The offspring produced as a result of reproduction of the parents.
8. Trait: A trait is a distinct variant of a phenotypic character of an organism that
may be inherited or environmentally determined.
9. Dominant trait: A genetic trait is considered dominant if it is expressed in a
person who has only one copy of that gene i.e., a trait which phenotypically
expressed in heterozygote.
10. Recessive trait: A genetic trait is considered recessive if it is expressed only when
two copies of the recessive gene are present. E.g., tt, rr.
11. Allele: each of two or more alternative forms of a gene that arise by mutation and
are found at the same place on a homologous pair of chromosomes and that
control the same character.
12. Homozygous: Having two identical alleles of the same gene. E.g., TT, tt.
13. Heterozygous: Having dissimilar alleles. E.g., Tt, Rr.
14. Contrasting characters: A pair of visible characters such as tall and dwarf, white
and violet flowers, round and wrinkled seeds, green and yellow seeds etc.
15. Homologous pair of characters are those in which one member is contributed by
the father and the other member by the mother and both have genes for the same
character at the same position.
16. F1 Generation: When two parents cross (or breed) to produce progeny (or
offsprings), then their progeny is called first filial generation or F 1 generation.
17. F2 Generation: When the first-generation progeny cross (or breed) among
themselves to produce second generation progeny, then this progeny is called
second filial generation or F2 generation.)
18. Monohybrid cross: A type of cross in which only one pair of contrasting characters
are considered.
19. Dihybrid cross: A type of cross in which the inheritance of two pairs of contrasted
characters is considered.
20. Somatic cells: All cells forming the body of an organism, except the reproductive
cells.
21. Sex chromosomes: Either of a pair of chromosomes, usually designated X or Y, in
the germ cells of most animals, that combine to determine the sex and sex-linked
characteristics of an individual.
22. Autosomes: The chromosomes other than sex chromosomes. These chromosomes
do not play any role in sex determination.

Mendel’s work
 Gregor Johann Mendel, known as ‘Father of Genetics’, was an Austrian Monk
who worked on pea plants to understand the concept of heredity.
 His work laid the foundation of modern genetics.
 He made three basic laws of inheritance – The Law of Dominance, The Law of
Segregation and The Law of Independent Assortment.

Traits selected by Mandle for his crosses

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Why did Mendel choose pea plants from his experiments?
i. Pea plants are easy to grow.
ii. A large number of true breeding verities of pea plants are available.
iii. Due to short life span, a large number of generations can be studied.
iv. Both, self and cross pollination is possible.

Mendel’s Experiments
Monohybrid cross: When only one character/trait is considered while crossing two
organisms, then such a cross is known as monohybrid cross.

 Mandle took pure tall (genotype TT) and pure dwarf (genotype tt) pea plants and
cross pollinated them to obtain first generation or first filial generation.
 In this F1 generation, he obtained only tall plants.
 This meant that only one of the parental traits was seen, not the mixture of the
two.
 The plants of F1 generation were then self-pollinated to obtain F2 generation.
 Now all plants were not tall.
 He obtained 75% tall plants and 25% dwarf plants.

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Conclusion:
 The phenotypic ratio was 3:1. This indicates that in the F1 generation both tall
and dwarf traits were inherited but tallness expressed itself.
 Tallness is a dominant trait and dwarfness is a recessive trait.

Monohybrid cross between violet flowers and white flowers:

If we cross pea plant with violet flowers (genotype PP) and pea plant with white flowers
(genotype pp)
 In F1 generation, we will obtain only violet flowered plants.
 This meant that only dominant parental traits is seen, not the mixture of the two.
 If plants of F1 generation were then self-pollinated to obtain F 2 generation.
 In F2 generation, all plants will not be violet flowered.
 We will obtain 75% violet flowered plants and 25% white flowered plants.

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Phenotypic ratio- Violet : white- 3 : 1
Genotype ratio- Homozygous violet : heterozygous violet : homozygous white
1:2:1
Conclusion:
 All the plants obtained in F2 generation were either violet (dominant) or white
(recessive), there were no mixed coloured plants.
 This shows that alleles are segregated at the time of gamete formation and reunite
during zygote formation.

Dihybrid cross: When two characters/traits are considered while crossing two
organisms, then such a cross is known as dihybrid cross.
 Mandle cross breed pea plants bearing round green seed with plants bearing
wrinkled and yellow seeds.
 In the F1 generation he obtained all round and yellow seeds it means round and
yellow traits of seeds are dominant features while wrinkled and green are
recessive.
 He self-pollinated the plants of F1 generation to obtain F2 generation, he obtained
four different types of seeds round yellow, round green, wrinkled yellow and
wrinkled green in the ratio of 9 : 3 : 3 : 1.

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Conclusion: There were new varieties of plants which were different from parental
varieties. Mandle concluded that traits are independently inherited.

Dihybrid cross between tall-round and short-wrinkled:

 If we cross breed tall pea plants bearing round green seed with short plants
bearing wrinkled seeds.
 In the F1 generation he obtained all tall and round seeds it means tallness and
round seed traits are dominant features while dwarfness and wrinkled seeds are
recessive.
 If we self-pollinate the plants of F1 generation to obtain F2 generation, we will
obtain four different types of plants, tall with round seeds, tall with wrinkled
seeds, dwarf with round seeds and dwarf with wrinkled seeds in the ratio of 9 : 3 :
3 : 1.
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  Therefore, we can conclude that traits are independently inherited

RULES FOR THE INHERITANCE OF TRAITS (Mendel’s Laws):

Law of Dominance: When parents having pure contrasting characters/traits are

crossed then only one character/trait expresses itself in the F1 generation. This
character/trait is the dominant character/trait and the character/factor which cannot
express itself is called the recessive character/trait.
We can understand the Law of Dominance with help of Monohybrid Cross.

Law of Segregation:
Mendel’s law of segregation states that the two alleles for each trait segregate, or
separate, during the formation of gametes, and that during the formation of new zygotes,
the alleles will combine at random with other alleles.
We can understand law of segregation with help of monohybrid cross.

Law of Independent Assortment:

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The Law of Independent Assortment states that during a dihybrid cross (crossing of two
pairs of traits), an assortment of each pair of traits is independent of the other. In other
words, during gamete formation, one pair of trait segregates from another pair of traits
independently.
We can understand the law of independent assortment with the help of dihybrid cross.

How to calculate number of offsprings:

𝑉𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜 𝑜𝑓
𝑜𝑓𝑓𝑠𝑝𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑒 𝑐𝑎𝑙𝑐𝑢𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑑
𝑁𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑠 𝑎𝑠𝑘𝑒𝑑 = 𝑋 𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑁𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟𝑓 𝑃𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑠 𝐺𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑛
𝑆𝑢𝑚 𝑜𝑓 𝑉𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑒𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑅𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜

Question- Two pea plants - one with round yellow seeds (RRYY) and another with
wrinkled green (rryy) seeds produce F1 progeny that have round, yellow (RrYy) seeds.
When F1 plants are self-pollinated, which new combination of characters is expected in
F2 progeny? How many seeds with these new combinations of characters will be
produced when a total 160 seeds are produced in F 2 generation?
Solution-
(i) Plants with round and green seeds = 𝑋 160
Plants with round and green seeds = 30 plants

(ii) Plants with wrinkled and yellow seeds = 𝑋 160

Plants with wrinkled and yellow seeds = 30 plants

Question- Sahil performed an experiment to study the inheritance pattern of genes. He

crossed tall pea plants (TT) with short pea plants (tt) and obtained all tall plants in F1
generation.
i. When F1 plants were self - pollinated, a total of 800 plants were produced. How
many of these would be tall, medium height or short plants?
ii. When F1 plants were cross - pollinated with plants having tt genes, a total of 800
plants were produced. How many of these would be tall, medium height or short
plants? Give the genotype of F 2 generation.
Solution- i. Tall plants = 𝑋 800 = 600 𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑠
Medium height plants = 𝑧𝑒𝑟𝑜
Tall plants = 𝑋 800 = 200
ii. Tall plants = 𝑋 800 = 400 𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑠
Medium height plants = 𝑧𝑒𝑟𝑜
Tall plants = 𝑋 800 = 400

Incomplete Dominance
Incomplete dominance is when a dominant allele, or
form of a gene, does not completely mask the effects
of a recessive allele, and the organism’s resulting
physical appearance shows a blending of both alleles.
It is also called semi-dominance or partial dominance.
One example is shown in roses. The allele for red
colour is dominant over the allele for white colour,
but heterozygous roses, which have both alleles, are
pink. Note that this is different from codominance,
which is when both alleles are expressed at the same
time.
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Co-dominance
Codominance occurs when two different versions – a.k.a. “alleles” – of the same gene are
present in a living thing, and both alleles are expressed separately in different parts of
an organism. Instead of one trait being dominant over the other, both traits appear.
An example of codominance that occurs in humans is that of blood type.

How do traits get expressed?

Cellular DNA is the information source for making proteins in the cell.

A part of DNA that provides information for one particular protein is called a gene
for that protein for example, the height of a plant depends upon the growth hormone
which is in turn controlled by the gene.

If the gene is efficient and more growth hormone is secreted the plant will grow tall. If
the gene for that particular protein gets altered and less of it is secreted when the plant
will remain short. Both the parents contribute equally to the DNA of next generation
during sexual reproduction. They actually contribute a copy of the same gene for
example, when tall plant is crossed with short plant the gametes will have single gene
either for tallness or for shortness. F1 generation will get one gene for tallness and other
for shortness also.

Germ cells i.e., gametes get single set of genes from parents who have two copies
in them?
Each gene set is present, not as a single long thread of DNA, but as separate
independent pieces each called a chromosome. Each cell gets two copies of the
chromosome, one from each parent. Each germ cell or gamete has one copy of it because
there is reductional division in the sex organs at the time of formation of gametes. When
fertilization takes place normal number of chromosomes is restored in the progeny
ensuring the stability of DNA of the species.

Sex Determination
It is the process by which sex of a new-born can be determined.

Different species use different strategies for this:

 In some animals such as crocodile and the temperature at which fertilized
eggs are kept determines whether the developing animals will be males or
females.
 Some animals like snails can change sex indicating that sex is not genetically
determined.
 In human beings’ sex of the individual is determined genetically; means
genes inherited from the parents decide the sex of the offspring.

Sex determination in human beings:

 In human beings, all chromosomes are not paired. 22 chromosomes are paired but
one pair called sex chromosome is odd in not having a perfect pair in males.
 Females have a perfect pair both represented by XX. On the other hand, males
have a normal sized X but the other is short called Y, so it is shown as XY.
 All gametes or ova formed by the homogenetic female are similar i.e., have X
chromosome. Males heterogenetic form two types of sperms i.e., half with X
chromosome and the other half with Y chromosome.
 Sex of the baby will depend on fertilization. There are two possibilities:

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  If sperm carrying X chromosome fuses with ovum, it results into female offspring.
 If sperm carrying Y chromosome fuses with ovum, it results into male offspring.

ABO blood Group system

The basis of ABO grouping is of two antigens- Antigen A and Antigen B. The ABO
grouping system is classified into four types based on the presence or absence of
antigens on the red blood cells surface and plasma antibodies.
 Group A – contains antigen A and antibody B.
 Group B –contains antigen B and antibody A.
 Group AB –contains both A and B antigen and no antibodies (neither A nor B).
 Group O – contains neither A nor B antigen and both antibodies A and B.
Blood group of a person is determined by following alleles IA, IB and i. IA and IB dominant
alleles while i is recessive. Following chart shows the inheritance of blood groups in
human beings.

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