Pisum Sativum) for Inheritance of Characters
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• Gregor Johann Mendel was an Austrian priest in a monastery at Brunn. • He conducted experiments on garden pea (Pisum sativum) for inheritance of characters. • The conclusions were published in the annual proceedings of the Natural History Society of Brunn in 1865. • The results remained obscure till a rediscovery by three scientists, namely, Hugo de Vries (Holland), Karl Correns (Germany) and Kris Von Tschermark (Austria) in 1900 • On the basis of the results of the monohybrid cross and the dihybrid cross, Correns formulated four laws of inheritance, namely, 1. Law of Unit Character 2. Law of Dominance 3. Law of Segregation 4. Law of Independent Assortment • Due to many exceptions in Law of Unit Character, this law was immediately dropped. • Exceptions have also been reported in Law of Dominance and Law of Independent Assortment. Therefore, these laws are not perfect or universal laws. • Law of Segregation (also called 'Law of Purity of Gametes') has no exception till date. Therefore, this law is called perfect law or universal law. • Birth - 22 July 1822 • Became Priest - October 1843 • Became Gregor -1849 • Experimentation period - 1856 to 1864 • Publication of result -1865 • Death - 1884 • Father of Genetics - 1909 • Mendel selected Garden Pea (Pisum sativum) for his experiments because of the following reasons: (a) It is an annual plant (b) The flowers are bisexual (c) Self-pollination (d) Easy emasculation (e) Large number of seed formation (f) Large number of contrasting characters Mendel studied the inheritance of unit character at a time. Crosses were done between parents of pure breeding line having contrasting characters. This experiment was carried out on F1 and F2 generations. The crosses were of the following two types: • Monohybrid cross • Dihybrid cross 1. Monohybrid Cross • The cross between pure breeding line parents for a single pair of contrasting characters is called monohybrid cross. • When a pure tall (TT) pea plant was crossed with a pure dwarf (tt) pea plant, in F1 generation, all pea plants were tall (Tt). • The F1 plants are called hybrid and they were self- pollinated. • In the F2 generation, both tall and dwarf plants were found. • The cross is presented below. Results of the F 2 Generation • Phenotypic ratio = 3 tall: 1 dwarf (Phenotype ratio = 3: 1) • Genotypic ratio = 1 Homozygous tall : 2 Heterozygous tall : 1 Homozygous dwarf (Genotype ratio = 1 :2: 1) • Tallness and dwarfness are determined by a pair of contrasting factors or determiners. They are now called genes. • These factors occur in pairs and are received from either parent. • The factors are brought together by fertilisation and separate during gamete formation. • These factors never contaminate each other. • The cross between pure breeding line parents involving two pairs of contrasting characters is called dihybrid cross. • When pure axial and purple-flowered pea plant was crossed with pure terminal and white- flowered pea plant in the F1 generation, all pea plants were axial and purple flowered. • In the F2 generation, the self-cross of F1 plants gave the following four types of combinations: (a) Axial and purple flowered (b) Axial and white flowered (c) Terminal and purple flowered (d) Terminal and white flowered •Phenotypic ratio = 9 Axial and Purple: 3 Axial and White: 3 Terminal and Purple: I Terminal and White •Genotypic ratio = 1 :2:2:4: 1 :2: 1 :2: 1 • Axial, purple, terminal and white flower characters are determined by four different sets of factors. • These factors occur in pairs and are received from either parent. • These factors are brought together by fertilisation and separate during gametogenesis. • These factors never contaminate. • In the F1 generation, cross-fertilisation leads to formation of hybrids, all having heterozygous axial and purple flowers. • In the F2 generation, the process of independent assortment takes place among factors, so new combinations like axial white-flowered and terminal purple-flowered pea plants arise. • On the basis of monohybrid and dihybrid cross, the following four laws were formulated: 1. Law of Unit Character - An individual's body contains many characters. Each of these characters behaves as a unit and its expression is controlled by a particular gene. 2. Law of Dominance - For one or more sets of contrasting characters, when two individual are crossed, the characters which appear in F1 heterozygous are called dominant characters while those that do not appear are called recessive characters. 3. Law of Segregation - It is also called law of purity of gametes. 'Factors (genes) segregate at the time of gamete formation. 4. Law of Independent Assortment - For more than one set of contrasting characters, the alleles segregate and assort independently. • The significance of Mendel's laws is stated below. • The outcome of Mendel's laws is useful in Eugenics, which deals with the betterment of the human race. • The laws are useful in improvement of crops, cattle, fowl, etc. • Mendel's laws help in pedigree analysis for many diseases • Backcross • The cross between the FI hybrid and any of the parent (back generation) is called backcross. • Test Cross • The cross between the FI hybrid and the recessive individual (parent) is called test cross. It is utilised to find out the heterozygosity in FI individuals. • It is a post-Mendelian cross. It is also known as blending inheritance. It is an exception to Mendel's findings. • Reference: When two contrasting alleles come together in the FI hybrid, the character expressed is neither of the parents' type, but a mixture of both. (i) Incomplete dominance is seen in the four o'clock plant (Mirabilis jaLapa). (ii) When a red-flowered (RR) plant is crossed with a white-flowered (rr) plant. (iii) In the FI generation, all plants bear pink (Rr) flowers. (iv) The self-cross in FI hybrids yields red, pink and white-flowered plants. • Result • Phenotypic ratio = Genotypic ratio (1 :2:1) = 1 Red: 2 Pink: 1 White • Explanation - The allele R is incompletely dominant over allele 'r', so that all heterozygous (Rr) individuals produce pink flowers. • It is a post-Mendelian cross and an exception to Mendel's findings. It is also known as Bateson factor hypothesis. • Definition - When two contrasting alleles come together in a heterozygous individual, both alleles express themselves side by side. • Co-dominance is seen in the inheritance of coat colour in cattle and blood group inheritance in humans. When red-hair cattle is crossed with white hair cattle. In F1 hybrids, the roan colour is expressed. The cross (inbreeding) between such male and female hybrids give red-, roan- and white-hair-coloured cattle in the F2 generation • The allele for red hair colour (R) is equally expressed as the allele for white hair colour (r), so all heterozygous individuals have roan (Rr) colours. • Epistasis is the interaction of two non-allelic genes, in which, one gene masks the expression of another gene. The gene, which masks the activity of another gene, is called an epistatic gene. The gene, whose activity is suppressed, is called a hypostatic gene. The genes are located on different loci. 1 . Dominant epistasis 2. Recessive epistasis • In this case, a dominant gene suppresses the expression of another allele either dominant or recessive. • Example (i) In poultry, there are two kinds of white breed, viz., the white leghorn and the white Plymouth rock. (ii) When such homozygous poultry are left to interbreed, in the F1 generation, all poultry become heterozygous white leghorn. (iii) Interbreeding between the F1 hybrid male and female produces 13 white and 3 coloured individuals. • When a set of more than two alleles, occupying the same locus in the homologous chromosomes, affects the expression of phenotypic character, they are called multiple alleles and the phenomenon is called multiple allelism. • The varied alleles in a set have arisen as a result of mutation in genes They are found on the same locus in the homologous chromosomes. (ii) Only two genes of multiple alleles are found in an individual in diploid condition. (iii) The gamete contains anyone of the genes. (iv) Crossing over is absent in multiple alleles. (v) Multiple alleles influence only one character. (vi) Their interaction shows dominant, recessive and co-dominance phenomena. • The inheritance of ABO blood groups in humans is a very good example of multiple alleles. The four blood groups, viz., A, B, AB and 0 are due to the presence of three alleles occupying the same locus on the homologues chromosome. These alleles IA, IB and IO, IO is recessive to both lA and IB alleles. IA and IB show co-dominance. Individual heterozygous for these two alleles have AB blood group. • When an individual with blood group A in heterozygous condition is married to a woman with heterozygous B blood group: • The offspring may have any of the four types of possible blood groups in ABO system. • Blood group A and B in the offspring is due to expression of allele lA over IO and allele over IO. • Blood group AB in the offspring is due to co-dominance of allele lA and IB. • Blood group 0 in the offspring is due to the combination of two recessive alleles IOIO. • There are certain characters in human population, which show phenotypic variations (eg., height, weight, skin colour, etc.). • These characters are expected due to cumulative effect of genes. • These genes are called polygenes and their inheritance is called polygenic inheritance, while the characters are called polygenic traits. (i) The effect of polygenes is cumulative. (ii) All the alleles of polygenes have equal effect. (iii) The inheritance is free from dominance, epistasis and linkage. (iv) The environment has little role in the expression of characters. (v) It was first found in humans by F.C Galton in 1883. (vi) It was first found in wheat by H.