1). Introduction 2). Gregor Johann Mendel 3). Mendels Experiments 4). Terminology 5). Monohybrid Cross 6).

Di-hybrid Cross 7). Mendels Laws 8). Exceptions to Mendels Law 9). Sex Chromosomes in Human 10). Determination of Sex 11). Sex Linkage 12). Sex Linked inheritance of diseases

Introduction
It is commonly observed that children resemble their parents. An individual inherits the characteristic features of the species from its parents. This resemblance is because the offspring inherits certain Factors from the parents. All the characters that offspring can inherit from the parents are called Hereditary Characters and the process of their transfer is called Heredity. Thus height, types of leaves, flower color, shape, seed structure etc..are hereditary characters in plants.

- In the same manner curly hair, eye color, color blindness etc.in man are the hereditary characters. - These factors are now know as genes that are located at specific points on chromosomes. - These genes control a particular Character or Trait. - Heredity: means transmission of genetically based characteristics from parents to offspring. - Each gamete has a complete haploid set of these genes. - Thus, the zygote inherits one half of its genetic material from either parent. This is the one reason why children resemble both the parents.

 Although offspring resemble their parents, they are rarely identical to them and they show some dissimilarities from their parents. Such dissimilarities in a species are called . These differences are caused by genetic / inherited variations and environmental / non inherited differences. Only inherited variations can be passed to offspring and have an influence in changing the genetic constitution of the species.

Gregor Mendel
Know as Father of GENETICS Born in 1822 in Czechoslovakia. He carried out expts on garden pea for 8 yrs. On the basis of his results, he derived a few fundamental principles. He presented his results in a paper Expts in Plant Hybridization before Brunn Natural History Society in 1865. Mendel repeated his work with some other plants also but failed to repeat his results. Hugo de Vries, Carl Correns & Erich von Tschermak working independently rediscovered his work and brought Mendels expts to the limelight.

Reasons for Mendels Success

He chose the garden pea for his expts. Pea plants were easy to cultivate, had a short lifespan and showed self-pollination as well as easily distinguishable characters. This helped him. His success was also due to his meticulous planning and laborious observations and record that enable him to have enough data to be analyzed statistically.

Mendels Experiments & Techniques

Hybridization (cross breed) involves crossing of two individuals with different desired characters to produce an offspring that has desired characters of both parents.

New terms
Homozygous: refers to having identical alleles for a single trait. Eg. The gene for seed shape in pea plants exists in two forms, one form or allele for round seed shape (R) and the other for wrinkled seed shape (r). A homozygous plant would contain the following alleles for seed shape: (RR) or (rr).

 Heterozygous: refers to having two different alleles for a single trait. E.g. The gene for seed shape in pea plants exists in two forms, one form or allele for round seed shape (R) and the other for wrinkled seed shape (r). A heterozygous plant would contain the following alleles for seed shape: (Rr). Organisms have two alleles for each trait. When the alleles of a pair are heterozygous, one is dominant and the other is recessive. Using the previous example, round seed shape (R) is dominant and wrinkled seed shape (r) is recessive. Round: (RR) or (Rr), Wrinkled: (rr).

Picture showing Homozygous and Heterozygous

Mendels experiment
He cultivated the pea plants with different characters and studied till he obtained TRUE BREEDING / HOMOZYGOUS plants (TT). E.g. Homozygosity for tall plants was tested by growing seeds of tall plants [ gametes of pure breed tall plants are TT and for dwarf plants are tt ]. Before experimenting he considered some characters for his experiments.

Characters Mendel considered are

1. Stem length: Tall / Dwarf 2. Flower position: Axial / Terminal 3. Flower color: Red / White 4. Pod color: Green / Yellow 5. Pod shape: Inflated / Constricted 6. Seed shape: Round / Wrinkled 7. Cotyledon color: Yellow / White

The next step was HYBRIDIZATION

He chose 2 parents with alternate forms of a character. Eg. Red / White flower color, Tall / Dwarf stem length etc.. Then he removed the anthers of the plant, he designated female, dusted its stigma with pollen of desired male and bagged it. Such a cross was called because it involved cross between alternate forms of one character only. The offspring was F1 generation.

Further
# Then, Mendel made a reciprocal cross where the parents in the earlier cross were reserved i.e. male as female and vice versa. # In all these, the offspring demonstrated Red flowers showing dominance of Red color. # The F2 generation was obtained by bagging complete flowers of F1 generation enabling them to self pollinate and produce seeds.

TERMINOLOGY
Term
GENE ALLELE

Explanation
The basic unit of inheritance for a given character Alternate forms of the same gene which determine contrasting characters

Example
Height of the plant Tall (T) or Dwarf (t)

Homozygous Diploid condition where TT or tt

both the identical alleles are

Heterozygous Diploid condition where Tt

both the different alleles are

Phenotype

The physical or external and Tall, observable expression of a Dwarf character The genetic expression of a TT, tt, Tt character in terms of alleles written in symbols An allele which expresses TT or Tt itself externally when (both represent present in homozygous or tallness: T is heterozygous conditions dominant)

Genotype

Dominant

An allele which expresses t or dwarf itself externally when present in homozygous condition but remains suppressed in heterozygous condition. Monohybrid When only one pair of Tall x Dwarf alleles is used during (TT) x (tt) hybridization.

Recessive

The generation produced by (P) TT x tt F1 Generation crossing two parental stocks is called first filial (F1) Tt generation.

The generation (P) TT x tt F2 Generation produced by crossing two individuals of F1 (F1) Tt x Tt generation is called second filial (F2) TT Tt Tt tt generation.

Test Cross

A cross between the (P) tt x Tt (F1) recessive parent and an individual of F1 generation.

Definition
Variation: Small differences between individuals due to inheritance Mutation: Sudden changes in one or more genes in the progeny, which normally may not have existed in the parents, grand parents or even great grand parents. E.g. Albinism (total loss of skin pigment)