IGCSE Biology Notes
Topic 17: Inheritance
Content to be learnt in Topic 17
1. Define inheritance, chromosome, gene and allele
2. Describe the inheritance of sex in humans with reference to XX and XY
3. Explain that the base sequence of a gene is the genetic code for putting together
amino acids in a correct order to make a protein
4. Understand that DNA controls cell function through the proteins produced from it
5. Process of protein synthesis starting from gene
6. Understand that all body cells carry the same gene but different cell types would only
express certain genes
7. Understand the difference between diploid and haploid nucleus, and normal number
of chromosomes in human diploid and haploid nucleus
8. State the roles of mitosis
9. Explain the functioning of stem cells with relation to mitosis and cell differentiation
10. Understand the differences between mitosis and meiosis
11. Define genotype, phenotype, homozygous, pure-breeding, heterozygous, dominant
and recessive alleles, and co-dominance
12. Understand how to interpret a pedigree diagram
13. Understand how to use a genetic diagram to predict probability for a certain
phenotype in monohybrid crosses, or inheritance involving co-dominant alleles and
sex chromosomes
Question style in Topic 17
1. State the definitions of chromosome, gene, allele,
2. Compare and contrast mitosis and meiosis
3. State the number of chromosomes in daughter cells produced by mitotic or meiotic
cell division
4. Draw genetic diagrams for a phenotype which is provided in the question rather than
being already taught in the syllabus
5. Predict the probability for offspring to have a certain phenotype
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IGCSE Biology Notes
Topic 17: Inheritance
Topic 17: Inheritance
Inheritance is the transmission of genetic information from generation to generation
In this topic, you will encounter a lot of terms that basically mean “genetic material”. The reason for this is
because our genetic material is quite complicated, so it would be more convenient for us to look at them
from different perspectives, hence the need for multiple terms.
DNA: the molecule that is used by living organisms as genetic material
DNA stands for deoxyribonucleic acid
Gene: a section of DNA that codes for a specific protein
The protein then controls physical characteristics of a person. Hence, we can think of genes
as DNA sequences that control our physical characteristics e.g. skin colour, height, hair and
eye colour, ability to roll tongue, earlobe attachment, …
Chromosome: a large thread-like DNA molecule that carries many genes. This can be found in the
nucleus (eukaryotes) or nucleoid region (prokaryotes)
In normal human cells there are 23 pairs of chromosomes (in total 46), but in our
reproductive cells namely sperms and eggs, there are only 23 chromosomes
Thus, we say that our body cells have diploid nucleus (full number of chromosomes) while
our sperms and eggs have haploid nucleus (half the number of chromosomes)
Alternatively, we can express the number of chromosomes in the form of 2N = 46
for body cells, and N = 23 for gametes. N is the number of chromosome pairs
In prokaryotes, the nucleoid region is basically one big DNA molecule, so in reality they
only have 1 chromosome
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IGCSE Biology Notes
Topic 17: Inheritance
1. Structure of DNA
DNA consists of two strands coiled to form a double helix
Each strand is made of nucleotide
Nucleotide: the basic unit needed to construct DNA
1. In each nucleotide there is only one nitrogenous base, but there are four possible bases:
adenine (A), thymine (T), cytosine (C), guanine (G)
When two DNA strands coil up, their bases must match with each other through complementary
base pairing
1. A always pair up with T, G always pair up with C
FOR REFERENCE ONLY
DNA as a double helix DNA straightened out and A nucleotide
structure of DNA strands can be
seen
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IGCSE Biology Notes
Topic 17: Inheritance
2. Genes and proteins
As defined above, a gene is a short section of DNA. The sequence of bases in the gene provide
instruction for making proteins, in particular what amino acids are needed and what order should
they appear in also referred to as amino acid sequence
For reference only: base sequence can be used to find out what amino acid should be
included in the protein
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/14/OSC_Microbio_11_04_GenCode.jpg
For reference only: base sequence also tells the order in which amino acid should be
arranged in
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9c/Figure_03_04_04.jpg
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IGCSE Biology Notes
Topic 17: Inheritance
DNA controls cell function by controlling the production of proteins, e.g.
Enzymes which catalyses chemical reactions
Antibodies which helps fight pathogens
Neurotransmitter receptors which is required for communication between neurones
Production of proteins by reading DNA sequence
Proteins are made through the following process:
1. Gene coding for the protein is in the nucleus
2. mRNA “messenger RNA” is synthesised from the gene through complementary base
pairing (G-C, A-U), carrying with it a copy of the gene to the cytoplasm
3. Once in the cytoplasm, mRNA passes through ribosomes
4. Ribosome assembles amino acids into protein molecules
e.g. AUG – GGU – AGG
↓ ↓ ↓
Met – Gly – Arg
All body cells carry the same 46 chromosomes and the same 25000 genes, but genes are selectively
expressed depending on cell type
E.g. Haemoglobin is expressed in red blood cells only, because red blood cells need this protein to
transport oxygen. Other cells do not carry out this function, so they don’t need to express
haemoglobin, even though they all inherently have the gene encoding for haemoglobin
3. Mitosis
Mitosis is the division of nucleus, resulting in genetically identical cells
If we want to refer to cell division that involves mitosis, we should specify it as mitotic cell
division
Mitosis is important to living organisms because of the following processes all require it:
Growth
Repair of damaged tissues
Replacement of cells
Asexual reproduction (mostly in microbes)
We can imagine that if a cell with 46 chromosomes is to divide itself to make genetically identical
cells, the two daughter cells would only have 23 chromosomes, which is half of the original number
(haploid)
Thus, chromosomes must be duplicated before mitosis and separated during mitosis so
that the daughter cells would still have full number of chromosomes (diploid)
Not all our body cells can carry out mitosis. In fact, the function is limited to a very small number of
cells called stem cells
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IGCSE Biology Notes
Topic 17: Inheritance
Stem cells are unspecialised cells that divide by mitosis to produce daughter cells that can
then become specialised
A fancier name
Afor red blood
fancier namecell
for
red blood cell
Blood stem cells at the top divide by mitosis, after which some of the daughter cells would go on to
specialise into different kinds of blood cells
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f0/Hematopoiesis_simple.svg
4. Meiosis
Meiosis is another type of nuclear division, except it give rises to cells that are genetically different
from one another
Haploid cells are produced rather than diploid cells
Gametes called sperms and eggs are both produced through meiotic cell division
Therefore, both sperms and eggs are haploid cells
A sperm and an egg can fuse together through fertilisation, after which the fertilised egg would
develop into a new human being
Because sperms and eggs are produced by the father and the mother respectively, the
gametes have different genetic material
Moreover, we cannot control which sperm is going to fuse with which egg, therefore
genetic variation arises from random fertilisation
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IGCSE Biology Notes
Topic 17: Inheritance
5. Basics of genetics
Because our chromosomes are in pairs, and each chromosome pair carries the same genes, we
have two copies of each gene
However, we could have two different versions of the same gene…
Alleles are the different versions of a gene, each differing from one another by a few bases
usually. Different base sequence = different amino acids used to make the protein =
different physical characteristics
E.g. Under the ‘eye colour gene’, there are alleles encoding for
black/brown/hazel/grey/blue/green/yellow/red eyes. They differ in the amount of
melanin (a dark pigment) deposited in the iris
A1 Both chromosomes A2
carry an “A” gene,
but the A genes are
slightly different
from one another,
which is why they
are designated as
A1 and A2 alleles
A chromosome pair
Genotype: combination of alleles for a given gene, which consists of two alleles
Phenotype: the trait an individual has due to his/her genotype
When two different alleles are present, one allele might dominate over another allele to show its
phenotype
Dominant allele: one of this allele is enough for it to show its phenotype
Recessive allele: only expressed when no dominant allele is present
e.g. Pea colour is determined by two alleles: a yellow allele dubbed “Y” and a green allele
dubbed “y”
Because Y is the dominant allele while y is the recessive allele, when a pea has a genotype
of YY or Yy, it shows yellow colour
But if the genotype is yy, it shows green colour instead
If an individual has 2 copies of a dominant allele, they are homozygous dominant e.g. YY
If an individual has 1 dominant and recessive alleles respectively, they are heterozygous e.g. Yy
If an individual has 2 copies of a recessive allele, they are homozygous recessive e.g. yy
Pure-bred = always homozygous for a gene
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IGCSE Biology Notes
Topic 17: Inheritance
While usually when there are two different alleles present, one allele should be dominant over the other
one, occasionally there is no showing of dominance in either allele. Rather, they express themselves
equally, resulting in a mix of phenotypes co-contributed by both alleles. This is known as co-dominance.
E.g. Blood typing
There are basically 4 blood types: A, B, AB and O
Your blood type is determined by your genotype, which consists of any combination from 3 alleles:
𝐈 𝐀, 𝐈 𝐁 (both are dominant alleles), and i (the only recessive allele)
Genotype I I or I i I I or I i I I ii
Phenotype A B AB O
(Blood type)
When there is only I or I , the blood type is guaranteed A or B
But when both alleles are present, they both express themselves equally, resulting in blood group
AB
i can only express itself when no dominant alleles are present
6. Monohybrid inheritance
Monohybrid = an individual is guaranteed heterozygous for a gene
Imagine that height in pea plant is controlled by two alleles: T and t
T is the dominant allele that makes pea plant tall
t is the recessive allele that makes pea plant short
If a heterozygous pea plant is bred with another heterozygous pea plant i.e. a monohybrid cross:
Each parent can pass down either one of its alleles to its offspring each time
Because this is a monohybrid cross, both parents are guaranteed to be heterozygous, so they each
produce gametes with either T or t
Offspring MUST obtain one allele from each parent
Therefore, after matching their alleles, we see that there are 3 possible genotypes in the
offspring
This results in a phenotypic ratio of 3:1 i.e. offspring has 75% chance of being tall and 25% chance
of being short
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IGCSE Biology Notes
Topic 17: Inheritance
When dealing with inheritance, we can also use a Punnet square to obtain the same result but with
much less drawing …
T t
T TT Tt
t Tt tt
The top row and leftmost column represents the possible gametes of both parents respectively
Phenotypic ratio of 3:1 can be obtained once again
Test cross
Test cross means an individual with unknown genotype is bred with a partner that is known to be
homozygous recessive
Test cross is very powerful, because by looking at the phenotypic ratio in a large population of
offspring, we can trace back the makeup of the unkown genotype
Scenario 1: A homozygous dominant individual is tested using test cross
T T
t Tt Tt
t Tt Tt
All offspring would be tall in this scenario. Therefore, all tall individual = unknown genotype must
be TT
Scenario 2: A heterozygous individual is tested using test cross
T t
t Tt tt
t Tt tt
Phenotypic ratio between tall and short would be 1:1. This can only be achieved in this cross when
the unknown genotype is Tt
Scenario 3: A homozygous recessive individual is tested using test cross
t t
t tt tt
t tt tt
A test cross is unnecessary here, because when both parents are homozygous recessive, they must
have the same genotype
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IGCSE Biology Notes
Topic 17: Inheritance
Pedigree diagram
A pedigree is a graphical representation of phenotypes in a family
Square = male
Circle = female
Blackened shapes indicate those individuals have the trait
Unfilled shapes indicate they do not have the trait
Sex Linkage
Sex chromosomes: chromosomes that determine gender. In human they are the last pair of
chromosomes (23rd pair)
There are two such chromosomes in human: X and Y
Male has XY while female has XX
Some genes are located on the sex chromosomes, resulting in higher chance for one gender to
have the phenotype
E.g. if a gene is located on the Y chromosome, we can imagine that any phenotype related
to this gene would only be found in male
However, because Y is a lot shorter than X, there are way less genes on Y chromosome,
therefore most linked genes are actually found on X chromosome instead
Red-green colour blindness
It is an X-linked recessive disease. Affected individuals cannot differentiate red and green colours
Because male only has one X chromosome, only 1 recessive allele is needed for the person to
develop colour blindness, while female requires 2 recessive alleles. If a woman is heterozygous, she
would still not be affected by colour blindness “carrier”
Therefore, red-green colour blindness is more common in male
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IGCSE Biology Notes
Topic 17: Inheritance
Multiple-choice questions
1.
2.
3.
4.
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5.
6.
7.
8.
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9.
10.
11.
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12.
13.
14.
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15.
16.
17.
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18.
19.
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20.
21.
22.
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23.
24.
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25.
26.
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27.
28.
29.
30.
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Short questions
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4.
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Topic 17: Inheritance
Marks schemes
Multiple-choice questions
1. D 11. B 21. C
2. D 12. C 22. C
3. B 13. C 23. B
4. B 14. C 24. A
5. A 15. C 25. C
6. C 16. C 26. B
7. D 17. D 27. A
8. B 18. C 28. B
9. A 19. B 29. A
10. B 20. A 30. D
Short questions
Q1.
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Topic 17: Inheritance
Q2.
Q3.
Q4.
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