Genes & Inheritance

What is a gene?

Gregor Mendel
The Father of Genetics

Mendels laws of inheritance A heritable unit [gene] is passed from one

generation to the next A heritable unit can have alternate forms [alleles] Each individual must have two alternate forms per feature The sex cells only have one of the alternate forms per feature One allele can be dominant over the other

Mendels experiments

 Mendel cross bred plants that had contrasting features the parent plants Transferred pollen from one experimental plant to another Made sure the plants could not be self-fertilised Collected all the seeds formed, grew them, and noted the features that each plant developed

 Allowed the F1 generation to selffertilise Collected the seeds, grew them and noted the features that each plant developed These plants formed the second generation of offspring (F2 generation)

GENOTYPE : the alleles each cell has for a certain feature, e.g. TT PHENOTYPE : the feature that results from the genotype, e.g. tall plant

Punnett Square Parents phenotype Tall

Parents genotype Gamete genotypes
Gametes from mother

TT T T
Tt tall Tt tall

dwarf tt t t

T t
Gametes from father

Tt tall Tt tall

Probability of Tt is 100%

 Parents phenotype Parents genotype Gamete genotypes

Gametes from mother

Tall Tt
T t
Tt tall

Tall Tt T t

T T
Gametes from father

TT tall

1TT : 2Tt : 1tt

3 tall : 1 dwarf

Tt tall

tt dwarf

HOMOZYGOUS : two copies of the same allele, e.g. TT or tt HETEROZYGOUS : two different alleles, e.g. Tt

 Some alleles for a feature are able to mask the influence of other gene when they are paired Stronger gene is DOMINANT and is represented by a capital letter, e.g. H The masked gene is RESSESIVE shown as lower case of the same letter, e.g. h

Explaining Mendels Each feature is results controlled by a gene, found on

a chromosome There are two copies of each chromosome and each gene in all body cells, except sex cells The sex cells have only one copy of each chromosome and each gene There are two alleles (forms) of each gene One allele is dominant over the other allele, which is recessive When two different alleles are in the same cell, only the dominant is expressed

Working out genotypes - Test cross

In a test cross, you must control every other possible variable, including the genotype of the plant you breed it with.