Principles of Inheritance and Variation
Inheritance is the process by which characters are passed on from parents to offspring. Variation is the
degree by which progeny differ from their parents. The scientific study of heredity and variation is called
Genetics.
Mendel’s Experiments
Gregor Johann Mendel, known as the Father of Genetics, performed hybridisation experiments on
garden pea plants (Pisum sativum). He studied the inheritance of contrasting traits like tall/dwarf,
round/wrinkled seeds, yellow/green seeds, etc.
Mendel’s Laws of Inheritance
• Law of Dominance – In a heterozygous condition, only one allele (dominant) expresses itself while the
other (recessive) is suppressed.
• Law of Segregation – Alleles separate during gamete formation, hence gametes are pure.
• Law of Independent Assortment – When two pairs of traits are combined in a hybrid, segregation of
one pair of characters is independent of the other pair.
Example: Monohybrid Cross (Tt × Tt)
T t
T TT (Tall) Tt (Tall)
t Tt (Tall) tt (Dwarf)
Deviation from Mendelism
1. Incomplete Dominance – Neither allele is completely dominant; phenotype is intermediate (e.g.,
Snapdragon flower colour – red × white → pink). 2. Codominance – Both alleles express equally (e.g.,
ABO blood groups). 3. Multiple Alleles – More than two alleles present in a population (e.g., ABO blood
group system). 4. Pleiotropy – One gene influences multiple traits (e.g., sickle-cell anaemia). 5.
Polygenic Inheritance – Multiple genes control a single character (e.g., human skin colour, height).
Chromosomal Theory of Inheritance
Proposed by Sutton and Boveri. They related the behaviour of chromosomes during meiosis to
Mendel’s principles. Genes are present on chromosomes and are the carriers of heredity.
Linkage and Recombination
Thomas Hunt Morgan worked on Drosophila (fruit fly) and showed that genes located on the same
chromosome are linked and tend to be inherited together. Recombination is the formation of new
genetic combinations due to crossing over during meiosis.
Sex Determination
Different mechanisms: • XX-XY type – Humans, mammals • XO type – Grasshopper • ZW type – Birds •
Haplodiploidy – Honey bees (males haploid, females diploid)
Genetic Disorders
1. Mendelian Disorders – Caused due to mutation in a single gene: • Haemophilia – Sex-linked
recessive disorder (blood clotting fails) • Thalassemia – Defective haemoglobin formation • Sickle-cell
anaemia – Mutation in β-globin gene 2. Chromosomal Disorders – Due to numerical or structural
abnormalities: • Down’s Syndrome – Trisomy of chromosome 21 • Klinefelter’s Syndrome – XXY
condition in males • Turner’s Syndrome – Monosomy X (XO) in females
