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PEDGREE

Pedigree analysis is a method used to study the inheritance of genes in families. It involves creating a family tree chart that represents family members and whether they have a genetic trait or disorder. Gregor Mendel's experiments on pea plants established that genes are responsible for passing traits from parents to offspring. Since experiments cannot be done on humans, pedigree analysis allows studying inheritance patterns within families to predict genetic risks. The charts use symbols like squares for males and circles for females to represent generations and distinguish affected, carrier, and normal individuals to analyze Mendelian inheritance of disorders.

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Stelio Guimarães
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95 views2 pages

PEDGREE

Pedigree analysis is a method used to study the inheritance of genes in families. It involves creating a family tree chart that represents family members and whether they have a genetic trait or disorder. Gregor Mendel's experiments on pea plants established that genes are responsible for passing traits from parents to offspring. Since experiments cannot be done on humans, pedigree analysis allows studying inheritance patterns within families to predict genetic risks. The charts use symbols like squares for males and circles for females to represent generations and distinguish affected, carrier, and normal individuals to analyze Mendelian inheritance of disorders.

Uploaded by

Stelio Guimarães
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Genetic History of

Pedigree Analysis - Genetic History of Family


Introduction
Gregor Mendel worked on the principles of inheritance in genetics a long time ago. His work
helped form the fundamentals of genetics and inheritance patterns in living organisms. Later,
scientists developed another approach to help us understand the inheritance of genes in living
organisms. This approach is known as the pedigree analysis. Let’s now learn about pedigree
analysis and how it helps predict genetic diseases.

What is Pedigree Analysis?


Pedigree analysis was developed to understand the inheritance of genes from parents to
offspring. It was developed as a chart that can represent a family tree along with the family
members and their genetic traits, respectively.

Gregor Mendel’s experiments showed that the “factors” that we now know as “genes”, are
the factors which are responsible for the inheritance of traits from parents to offspring.

Therefore, genes are the hereditary unit of organisms which are responsible for carrying the
information from the parents to their offspring. These genes are responsible for the
characteristics of a living organism and can also be the reason for some disorders present in
them.

These conclusions are based on the evidence provided by the controlled cross experiments in
pea plants and other organisms. Since we can’t perform similar experiments on human
populations due to ethical reasons, we formed pedigree analysis to study the pattern of the
inheritance even when we have limited data.

Mendelian disorders are genetic diseases which follow a Mendelian inheritance pattern, and
their inheritance is controlled by Mendelian genetics. Therefore, by studying the family
history of an individual through pedigree analysis, we can predict whether an individual is at
risk of a genetic disorder.

Pedigree Analysis – Diagram


A family tree can be represented by a pedigree chart with all the members of a family. They
may be having a genetic disorder or maybe a carrier of the disease. In the pedigree analysis,
standard symbols are used to distinguish between different families.
Here is a diagrammatic representation of a pedigree chart.

 Here, the rows represent the generations of a family, squares represent males, and
circles represent females. Individuals on the same row belong to the same generation.
 A marriage or mating is represented as a horizontal bar between the square and the
circle. Likewise, a double bar between the symbols indicates a marriage.
 The offsprings are indicated by a suspending vertical line drawn perpendicular to the
horizontal bar or marriage bar.
 The homozygous individuals are represented as fully shaded symbols. Whereas
heterozygous individuals are just carriers and are represented by half-shaded
symbols.
 A normal or natural genotype is denoted as wild type. Unshaded squares and circles
indicate the normal or “unaffected” individuals.
 Usually, the carrier of a sex-linked recessive gene is represented by a black spot in the
middle of the symbol.
 Sometimes, a particular affected individual who is being interviewed or who bought
the trait to the geneticists is indicated by a pointing arrow.

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