Biology I for Non-Majors

1. Biology I for Non-Majors Trait Inheritance

2. Genetics • Johann Gregor Mendel set the framework for genetics long before chromosomes or genes had been identified • Genetics is the study of heredity • Because of Mendel’s work, the fundamental principles of heredity were revealed • Mendel used pea plants as his primary model system and conducted experiments with nearly 30,000 plants • Mendel performed hybridizations, which involve mating two true-breeding individuals that have different traits • Plants used in first-generation crosses were called P0 • Offspring were called the F1 • Seeds from the F1 plants produce the F2

4. Basics of Heredity • A trait is defined as a variation in the physical appearance of a heritable characteristic • A reciprocal cross is a paired cross in which the respective traits of the male and female in one cross become the respective traits of the female and male in the other cross • Dominant traits are those that are inherited unchanged in a hybridization • Recessive traits become latent, or disappear, in the offspring of a hybridization • The fact that the recessive trait reappeared in the F2 generation meant that the traits remained separate (not blended) in the plants of the F1 generation

5. Genes versus Appearance • The seven characteristics that Mendel evaluated in his pea plants were each expressed as one of two versions, or traits • Gene variants that arise by mutation and exist at the same relative locations on homologous chromosomes are called alleles • Two alleles for a given gene in a diploid organism are expressed and interact to produce physical characteristics • The observable traits expressed by an organism are referred to as its phenotype • An organism’s underlying genetic makeup, consisting of both physically visible and non-expressed alleles, is called its genotype • Diploid organisms that are homozygous at a given gene, or locus, have two identical alleles for that gene on their homologous chromosomes

6. Determining Genotype from Phenotype • When fertilization occurs between two true-breeding parents that differ in only one characteristic, the process is called a monohybrid cross •  A Punnett square can be drawn that applies the rules of probability to predict the possible outcomes of a genetic cross or mating and their expected frequencies • A test cross determines whether an organism that expressed a dominant trait was a heterozygote or a homozygote

7. Law of Segregation • This law states that paired unit factors (genes) must segregate equally into gametes such that offspring have an equal likelihood of inheriting either factor • Supports Mendel’s observed 3:1 phenotypic ratio • The equal segregation of alleles is the reason we can apply the Punnett square to accurately predict the offspring of parents with known genotypes

8. Law of Independent Assortment • This law states that genes do not influence each other with regard to the sorting of alleles into gametes, and every possible combination of alleles for every gene is equally likely to occur • Can be illustrated by the dihybrid cross, a cross between two true-breeding parents that express different traits for two characteristics

9. Mendel’s Laws Are Not Absolute • We now know that some allele combinations are not inherited independently of each other • Each chromosome contains hundreds or thousands of genes, organized linearly on chromosomes like beads on a string • The segregation of alleles into gametes can be influenced by linkage, in which genes that are located physically close to each other on the same chromosome are more likely to be inherited as a pair • When two genes are located in close proximity on the same chromosome, they are considered linked, and their alleles tend to be transmitted through meiosis together • As the distance between two genes increases, the probability of one or more crossovers between them increases, and the genes behave more like they are on separate chromosomes

10. Incomplete Dominance • The heterozygote phenotype occasionally does appear to be intermediate between the two parents: this is described as incomplete dominance • Flower color in snapdragons

11. Codominance • A variation on incomplete dominance is codominance, in which both alleles for the same characteristic are simultaneously expressed in the heterozygote • Human blood types • Roan coat color in horses • Individual hairs are either chestnut or they are white, leading to the red roan overall appearance

12. Sex-linked Traits • When a gene being examined is present on the X chromosome, but not on the Y chromosome, it is said to be X-linked • Males are said to be hemizygous, because they have only one allele for any X-linked characteristic • Hemizygosity makes the descriptions of dominance and recessiveness irrelevant for XY males • In humans, the alleles for certain conditions (some forms of color blindness, hemophilia, and muscular dystrophy) are X-linked

13. Multiple Alleles • Mendel implied that only two alleles, one dominant and one recessive, could exist for a given gene • Now know that this is an oversimplification • Although individual humans (and all diploid organisms) can only have two alleles for a given gene, multiple alleles may exist at the population level such that many combinations of two alleles are observed • ABO blood types in humans • When many alleles exist for the same gene, the convention is to denote the most common phenotype or genotype among wild animals as the wild type • All other phenotypes or genotypes are considered variants • The variant may be recessive or dominant to the wild-type allele

14. Pedigrees and Diseases • Health care professionals have known for a long time that both common diseases and rare diseases can run in families • Family history can be a powerful screening tool • Family history can be used as a diagnostic tool and help guide decisions about genetic testing for the patient and at-risk family members • A basic family history should include three generations • One way to record a family history is by drawing a family tree called a pedigree.

15. Polygenic Inheritance • Many heritable human characteristics don’t seem to follow Mendelian rules in their inheritance patterns • Height and other similar features are controlled not just by one gene, but rather, by multiple (often many) genes that each make a small contribution to the overall outcome • This inheritance pattern is called polygenic inheritance

16. Continuous Variation • Most polygenic traits show the following characteristics • Continuous variation:unlike Mendel’s pea plants, humans don’t come in two clear-cut “tall” and “short” varieties • It is possible to get humans of many different heights, and height can vary in increments of inches or fractions of inches • Complex inheritance pattern: many different patterns of inheritance are possible • Tall parents can have a short child, short parents can have a tall child, and two parents of different heights may or may not have a child of intermediate height

17. Gene-Environment Interactions • Characteristics that are influenced by environmental as well as genetic factors are called multifactorial • The idea of “nature versus nurture” — in other words, the relative influence of genetics versus environmental factors — has been and still is debated • Everyone is a product of their environment as well as their genetics • Even when influenced by the environment, phenotypes have a normal range of expression • The range of phenotypic possibilities is called the norm of reaction

18. Pleiotropy • Genes which affect multiple, seemingly unrelated aspects of an organism’s phenotype are said to be pleiotropic • Alleles of pleiotropic genes are transmitted in the same way as alleles of genes that affect single traits • Although the phenotype has multiple elements, these elements are specified as a package

19. Quick Review • Explain why Mendel is considered the father of genetics • What is a genotype? A phenotype? • Use a test-cross to illustrate the law of segregation. • Explain the law of independent assortment. How would you test this law? • Describe incomplete dominance. • What is a codominant trait? • How would you identify a sex-linked trait? • What are multiple allele traits? • Describe a pedigree and how they are used to track human diseases. • What is polygenic inheritance? • How do you recognize a trait with continuous variation? • What impact does the environment have on traits? • Explain how pleiotropy impacts traits.