Inheritance Flashcards
Dominant alleles
- ones which always expressed when present. They stop recessive alleles from presenting. Shown in genetic diagrams with a capital letter.
Recessive alleles
- these are only expressed when there is no dominant allele of the gene present; a person must have 2 recessive alleles for that characteristic to show. Represented in diagrams with a lower-case letter.
Some characteristics are controlled by a single gene, but most are controlled by many genes interacting. We call these polygenes, or ‘polygenic inheritance’. Can you think of any characteristics that might be controlled by more than just 1 gene?
- Natural skin and hair colour, height, eye colour, risk of disease, intelligence, blood pressure, bipolar disorder
Genotype
- the combination of alleles present. Each characteristic is coded for by at least 2 alleles, one from each parent. The dominant allele always has a capital letter, and you use the lowercase version of the same letter to show the recessive allele
Phenotype
- the actual characteristic expressed by a person’s genes (observable features of an organism). For example, brown hair, blue eyes, tongue-roller etc
Homozygous
- an individual has two identical alleles of a particular gene. They are described as ‘homozygous dominant’ or ‘homozygous recessive’. Two identical homozygous individuals that breed together will be pure-breeding.
Heterozygous
- individual has two different alleles of a particular gene. A heterozygous individual will not be pure-breeding
What do punnett squares do?
- predict the probability of certain phenotypes in the offspring
monohybrid inheritance
- inheritance of a single gene, controlled by different alleles
Law of Segregation
- In diploid organisms, characteristics are determined by alleles that occur in pairs. Only one of each pair can be present in a single gamete.
phenotypic ratio
- ratio of all the possible phenotypes
Pedigree
- chart of the genetic history of a family over several generations
What are males represented as in pedigree charts?
- squares
What are females represented as in pedigree charts?
- circles
What do the shaded symbols represent in a pedigree chart?
- individual affected by a condition
What does a horizontal line between a man and a woman represent in a pedigree chart?
- mating
What does an unshaded symbol mean in a pedigree chart?
- unaffected by condition
What are resulting children represented as in a pedigree chart?
- offshoots to the horizontal line
What are generations labelled as in a pedigree chart?
- Roman numerals
What are individuals labelled as in a pedigree chart?
- according to age (oldest on left)
State what is meant by the term gene.
- section/length of DNA or chromosome that codes for a protein
Scientists observe that chickens have either normal feathers or silkie feathers. However, they have a wide range of different heights. Explain why there is a wider range of variation in height than in feather type.
- Feather is discontinuous , height is continuous, height is polygenic, height depends on several genes, height may have environmental effects, feather structure due to one gene only.
The inheritance of body colour in fruit flies was investigated. Two fruit flies with grey bodies were crossed. Of the offspring, 152 had grey bodies and 48 had black bodies. Explain why a statistical test should be applied to the data obtained in this investigation.
- To determine the probability; Of the
results being due to chance;
Researchers investigated some characteristics of people from different parts of England. In the north of England they selected 200 people and recorded their phenotypes for three different characteristics.
Their results are shown in the figure below. For each characteristic (tongue rolling / thumb) suggest one reason why the numbers do not add up to 200.
- Some embarrassed / not willing to show tongue / cannot tell; could not decide if thumb straight or not / thumb bend is subjective;