Warning-These notes are provided only as a guide. They may not be exactly what is used in class. Due to formating for HTML they may also be less clear than might be desired. Use them at your own risk. Dr. G.
Genetics
Gregor Mendel, 1800s
-did 1st scientific study
-knew nothing of chromosomes or cell division
-derived important laws from his work
{Notes on Mendel}
DISCOVERING THE LAW OF DOMINANCE
-Mendel noticed that pea plants came in traits of 2 forms
-some plants "bred true" for certain traits
-these were self- pollinating plants
seed shape
round, wrinkled
seed color
yellow, green
seed coat color
colored, white
pod shape
inflated, constricted
pod color
green, yellow
flower position
axial, terminal
stem length
long, short
-Mendel cross-pollinated these pure breeders
-these were called the parent, or P1 generation
pure tall X pure short -- > all tall
-the "short" trait disappeared in the first filial,
or F1 generation
-Mendel got the same kinds of results for all seven traits
-offspring of crosses are called hybrids
-Mendel wanted to know what happened to "short"
trait
-he allowed the F1 generation to self- pollinate
-producing an F2 , or second filial generation
-3/4 tall and 1/4 short
-the "short" trait was not lost
-traits expressed in F1 -- > dominant
-traits hidden in F1 --> recessive
LAW OF DOMINANCE
-IN A HYBRID, ONLY THE DOMINANT TRAIT CAN BE SEEN
Ratio
3:4 dominant in a mono hybrid cross.
-Mendel tried to explain why traits "disappeared"
-he made several hypothesis:
1-each trait was controlled by a different "factor"
2-each "factor" was 1 of 2 kinds
e.g. shortness or tallness
3-each plant had a pair of "factors" which could be
alike or different
4-in a cross, offspring received 1 "factor" from
each parent
5-dominant, seen, recessive, not seen, but also not lost
DISCOVERING THE LAW OF SEGREGATION
LAW OF SEGREGATION
-PAIRED FACTORS SEPARATED DURING GAMETE FORMATION, RECOMBINE
AT FERTILIZATION
GENE
-CHROMOSOME THEORY
-Mendel's work was rediscovered in 1900, more info on cells,
mitosis and meiosis
-1903, W.S. Sutton suggested that chromosomes carried Mendel's "factors"
-studied formation of grasshopper sperm
-Sutton published the gene-chromosome theory, 1903
-"factors" were officially called "genes"
FUNDAMENTALS OF GENETICS
review:
alleles-different forms of a gene, controlling a certain trait
e.g. Mendel's -- >height:short, tall
homozygous-identical alleles for a trait
e.g. P generation
heterozygous-different alleles for a trait
e.g. F1 generation
dominant alleles are written in capitals (TT)
recessive alleles are written in lowercase (tt)
genotype-genetic make- up
e.g. tall pure (TT)
tall hybrid (Tt)
phenotype-physical manifestation
e.g. both tall
gamete-haploid cells that fuse to form zygotes
e.g. sperm or pollen
zygote-diploid cell resulting from the fusion of 2 gametes
PROBABILITY OF GENETICS
-probability concerns law of chances
e.g. penny toss: expect 1 head, 1 tail
ratio-1:1
short trials, farther from ratio
longer trials, closer to ratio
(Mendel, worked with 100s of plants)
LAW OF PROBABILITY
NO ONE CHANCE IS MORE LIKELY TO OCCUR THAN THE OTHER
THE PUNNET SQUARE
-consider how pure tall and pure short alleles separate during
meiosis, and recombine during fertilization
punnet square-diagram to show expected ratios of genotypes and
phenotypes
-males arranged across top
-females along side
-each box indicates a zygote
-law of probability combined with punnet square helps explain
Mendel's results
NB: Only works in large #s of offspring
Small #s, only indicate chances of occurrences
PUNNET SQUARE FOR HYBRID CROSS
Tt X Tt -->
expected phenotype:
3/4 tall
1/4 short
(3 tall : 1 short)
expected genotype:
1/4 TT (pure tall)
½ Tt (hybrid tall)
1/4 tt (pure short)
(1 pure tall:2hybrid tall:1 pure short)
THE TEST CROSS
-helps determine genotype from phenotype
test cross-an individual of unknown genotype is mated with an
individual showing the contrasting recessive trait
test cross 1:
homozygous tall(test) x homozygous short
-->100% tall- phenotype
-->100% Tt -genotype
test cross 2:
heterozygous tall(test) x homozygous short
-->50% short, 50% tall-phenotype
-->50% Tt
50% tt-genotype
-any recessive phenotypes indicate that the test individual
was a hybrid
DISCOVERING THE LAW OF INDEPENDENT ASSORTMENT
-Mendel's 1st experiments involved 1 pair of traits
-then followed 2 pairs of contrasting traits
-did a dihybrid cross for seed color:
pure: yellow round x green wrinkled
-F1 phenotypes were all yellow and round
-F1s were then crossed:
hybrid: yellow round x yellow round
-all phenotypes were seen:
yellow round
yellow wrinkled
green round
green wrinkled
LAW OF INDEPENDENT ASSORTMENT-
GENES FOR DIFFERENT TRAITS ARE SEPARATED AND DISTRIBUTED TO
GAMETES INDEPENDENTLY OF ONE ANOTHER
PUNNET SQUARE FOR PURE DIHYBRID CROSS
YYRR X yyrr
PHENOTYPE-100% yellow, round
GENOTYPE-100% hybrid for both traits
PUNNET SQUARE FOR F1 DIHYBRID CROSS
YyRr X YyRr
PHENOTYPE
-9 yellow, round
-3 yellow, wrinkled
-3 green, round
-1 green, wrinkled
NB: PHENOTYPE RATIO 9:3:3:1
INCOMPLETE DOMINANCE
-not all genes follow Mendel's laws
-incomplete dominance is when both alleles contribute to the
phenotype
Japanese 4 o'clock flowers:
pure: red X white
-->all pink
hybrid: pink X pink
-->1 red:2 pink:1 white
CO-DOMINANCE
-2 different alleles are expressed at the same time
e.g. roan coat horses, both red and white hairs
-genotypes for co- dominance are expressed in superscript
pure:CWCW X CRCR
-->CRCW
MULTIPLE ALLELES
-refers to traits that have more than 2 alleles in a species, but not in the same individual
e.g. human blood groups
IA
IB
i
3 possible alleles
ABO groups
4 major human blood types
A
B
AB
O
2 antigens
"A" and "B" found on surfaces of RBC determine blood type
"O" no antigen
antigen and antibody information critical for blood
transfusions
All genes present expressed-no dominance/recessive
Possible combinations (2 alleles in each person, one from
mother one from father)
IA IA type A blood
IB IB type B blood
IA IB type AB blood
IA i type A blood
IB i type B blood
ii type O blood
If you have type AB blood, we know your genotype
If you have type O blood we know your genotype
otherwise....
A father AB can not have a child O
Prior to DNA testing
blood type was used to narrow down paternity in legal cases.
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