INHERITANCE 2
How to construct Punnett squares
• Determine the parental genotypes
• Select a letter that has a clearly different lower case, for example: Aa, Bb, Dd
• Split the alleles for each parent and add them to the Punnett square around the outside
• Fill in the middle four squares of the Punnett square to work out the possible genetic combinations
in the offspring
• You may be asked to comment on the ratio of different allele combinations in the offspring,
calculate a percentage chances of offspring showing a specific characteristic or just determine the
phenotypes of the offspring
• Completing a Punnett square allows you to predict the probability of different outcomes from
monohybrid crosses
IDENTIFYING AN UNKNOWN GENOTYPE
• Breeders can use a test cross to find out the genotype of an organism showing the dominant
phenotype
• This involves crossing the unknown individual with an individual showing the recessive phenotype
– if the individual is showing the recessive phenotype, then its genotype must be homozygous
recessive
• By looking at the ratio of phenotypes in the offspring, we can tell whether the unknown individual
is homozygous dominant or heterozygous
A plant breeder has a tall plant of unknown genotype. How can they find out whether it is
homozygous dominant or heterozygous?’
• If the tall plant is homozygous dominant, all offspring produced will be tall
• If the tall plant is heterozygous, half the offspring will be tall and the other half will be short
FAMILY PEDIGREES
• Family pedigree diagrams are usually used to trace the pattern of inheritance of a specific
characteristic (usually a disease) through generations of a family
• This can be used to work out the probability that someone in the family will inherit the genetic
disorder
• Males are indicated by the square shape and females are represented by circles
• Affected individuals are red and unaffected are blue
• Horizontal lines between males and females show that they have produced children (which are
shown underneath each couple)
• The family pedigree above shows:
both males and females are affected
every generation has affected individuals
that there is one family group that has no affected parents or children
the other two families have one affected parent and affected children as well
CODOMINANCE
• Some genes have alleles that are equally dominant and so are both expressed equally in the
phenotype
• This is known as codominance
• Both codominant alleles are shown with upper case letters in genetic diagrams, but the letters
used are different
• For example, feather colour in hens may be white, black or speckled (it has both white
feathers and black feathers)
• The alleles can be shown as W for white and B for black
• There are three possible genotypes: WW, BB and BW
• There are also three possible phenotypes: WW = white, BB = black, and BW = speckled
INHERITANCE OF BLOOD GROUP
• The parent with blood group A has the genotype IAI O
• The parent with the blood group B has the genotype IBI O
• We know these are their genotypes (as opposed to both being homozygous) as they are able to
produce a child with blood group O and so the child must have inherited an allele for group O from
each parent
• Parents with these blood types have a 25% chance of producing a child with blood type O
INHERITANCE OF SEX
• Sex, or gender, is determined by an entire chromosome pair (as opposed to most other
characteristics that are just determined by one or a number of genes)
• Females have the sex chromosomes XX
• Males have the sex chromosomes XY
• As only a father can pass on a Y chromosome, he is responsible for determining the gender of the
child
SEX-LINKED CHARACTERISTICS
• When alleles that control a particular characteristic are found on the sex chromosomes, we
describe the inheritance that results as ‘sex linked’
• In almost all cases, there are only alleles on the X chromosome as the Y chromosome is much
smaller
• Because males only have one X chromosome, they are much more likely to show sexlinked
recessive conditions (such as red-green colour blindness and haemophilia)
• Females, having two copies of the X chromosome, are likely to inherit one dominant allele that
masks the effect of the recessive allele
• A female with one recessive allele masked in this way is known as a carrier; she doesn’t have the
disease, but she has a 50% chance of passing it on to her offspring
• If that offspring is a male, he will have the disease
• The results of a cross between a normal male and a female who is a carrier for colour blindness is
as follows:
