Bio Chap 9 Pop Quiz Preparation

Bio Chap 9 Study Guide

Finn Ryan


Chapter 9, pp. 165-181 - Sections 9.8-9.23 

Non-Mendelian Genetics

  • 9.8- Family Pedigrees

    • Geneticists can’t perform test crosses on people, so they must analyze the previous results

    • Pedigree- Family tree for the history of a given trait 

  • 9.9- Inheritance of 1 trait can be controlled by 1 gene

    • Mutant trait- a trait (can be dominant or recessive) that is less common in nature

    • Carriers- Carry a recessive or dominant allele

    • Different disorders are dominant or recessive (there’s a table of them on pg 166)

      • Cystic Fibrosis- most common genetic disorder, recessive

      • Achondroplasia- Serious genetic disorder, dominant

    • Dominant disease alleles cause less death than recessive alleles because dominant alleles kill the carrier and that’s the end

    • Huntington’s disease- Degenerative disorder of the nervous system that usually doesn’t appear until age 35-45

      • Allele for Huntington’s disease is dominant, so anyone inheriting dies

      • This shows dominant allele is not necessarily “better”

  • 9.10- New Technology

    • Genetic screening informs decisions about family planning and are available for dominant diseases

    • Amniocentesis- Physician inserts a needle through abdomen into mother’s uterus and extracts 20 ml of of amniotic fluid (bathes developing fetus)

      • The extracted cells are grown in a lab for a few weeks

      • The resulting karyotyping can detect chromosomal abnormalities like down syndrome

      • Performed between 14-16 weeks pregnant

    • Chorionic villus sampling (CVS)- Physician extracts part of chorionic villus tissue from placenta

      • Inserts a tube through vagina and cervix into uterus

        • Results of karyotyping can be viewed in 24hrs

      • Performed between 8-12 weeks pregnant

    • Both tests cause risk of complications (CVS has a bigger miscarriage risk)

    • Ultrasound imaging- uses sound waves to produce a picture of the fetus

  • 9.11- Incomplete dominance

    • Complete dominance- dominant allele has same phenotypic effect whether in one or two copies

    • Incomplete dominance- Appearance of F1 hybrids falls in between the phenotypes of the two parental varieties

      • EX: Red flower x White flower = 4x Pink flower

  • 9.12- Many codominant alleles

    • ABO blood group phenotype in humans- involves three alleles of a single gene called Ia Ib and i

      • Various combinations of these alleles can produce 4x different phenotypes: Type A, B, AB, or O

    • Ia and Ib alleles are codominant, both expressed in type AB blood

    • Codominant- Both alleles are expressed in heterozygous individuals

    • Make sure to distinguish between codominance and incomplete dominance

    • If Maria has type O blood and her sister has AB blood their father has genotype Ib i and their mother has genotype Ib i

  • 9.13- Single gene affects multiple things

    • Pleiotropy- One gene influences multiple characteristics

    • Pleiotropy example: Sickle-cell disease

      • Makes red blood cells produce abnormal hemoglobin that clumps together

      • As hemoglobin crystalizes the normal disk shaped red blood cells become sickle shaped with jagged edges

      • Sickle cells get destroyed immediately and lower red blood cells

    • Sometimes heterozygotes for sickle cells still get it if their blood’s oxygen is reduced (at high elevation etc.)

      • Heterozygote displays incomplete dominance for trait

      • At molecular level sickle cell is codominant because heterozygotes can have some sickle cells and some regular cells

  • 9.14- Many genes can make a characteristic

    • Polygenic inheritance- additive effects of ≥2 genes on a single phenotypic character

    • If a dominant trait = 1 UNIT of that trait (ex: skin color) then AaBcCc (moderately dark skin) is the same as aaBBCc 

  • 9.15- Environment affects characters

    • Things like sun exposure and culture can affect your appearance

  • 9.16- Chromosome behavior agrees with Mendel’s laws

    • Chromosome theory of inheritance-genes occupy specific loci on chromosomes and it is the chromosomes that undergo segregation and independent assortment during meiosis

      • Thus it is behavior of chromosomes during meiosis + fertilization that accounts for inheritance patterns

    • Law of independent assortment = orientation of homologous chromosome pairs in Metaphase I

    • Law of segregation = the separation of homologous chromosomes in anaphase I

  • 9.17- Genes on the same chromosomes

    • Linked genes- Genes close to each other on the chromosome and tend to be inherited together

    • Sweet pea genes for flower color and pollen shape are on the same chromosome so meiosis in the heterozygotes led to mostly PL and pl instead of all four genotypes being equal

  • 9.18- Crossing over

    • Recombinant chromosomes- carry DNA from two different parents

      • Often have different gene combos from parent chromosomes

    • Wild-type- the traits most common in nature(nothing to do w/ dominance)

    • Mutant- Traits that are less common (can be dominant or recessive)

    • Recombination frequency- percentage of recombinant offspring among the total

    • Crossovers break lineages and form recombinant chromosomes

  • 9.19- People use crossover data to map genes

    • Genetic map- ordered list of the genetic loci along a chromosome

    • Linkage map- Genetic map based on recombinant frequencies

  • 9.20- Chromosomes determine sex

    • Sex chromosomes- Designated X and Y that determine an individual’s sex

    • XY= Male XX=Female

    • After meiosis each gamete has one sex chromosomes and a haploid set of autosomes (22 for humans)

  • 9.21- The inheritance of sex linked genes

    • Sex-linked gene- Single gene located on either sex chromosome

      • Majority of sex-linked genes are X-linked genes

  • 9.22- Sex linked disorders affect mainly males

    • When a man inherits only one X linked recessive allele from his mother and it is a disease he automatically has it but women need two recessive X linked alleles (way rarer)

    • Hemophilia plagued the royal families of Europe (Czar Nicholas II of Russia had a kid, Alexis, w/ Hemophilia)

  • 9.23- Y Chromosome explains evolution

    • Y chromosome is good for tracing past because it usually passes intact from father to son forming unbroken chain of male lineage


Read Chapter 13, pp. 268-271 - Sections 13.8-13.11 (Evolution of Populations)

  • 13.8- Mutation and sexual reproduction makes genetic variation

    • Mutation- a change in the genetic information encoded in the nucleotide sequence of the DNA

      • Original source of genetic variation

  • 13.9- Evolution happens in populations

    • Population- group of individuals of the same species that live in the same area and can potentially interbreed

    • Gene pool- consists of all copies of every type of allele at every locus in all members of the population

    • Microevolution- When the relative frequencies of alleles in a population change over a number of generations, evolution is occurring on its smallest scale

  • 13.10- Hardy-Weinberg equation

    • Hardy Weinberg equilibrium- Way to detect microevolution

  • In Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium:

    • Allele frequencies in a population will not change from generation to generation.

    • If the allele frequencies in a population with two alleles at a locus are p and q,
      then the expected genotype frequencies are p2, 2pq, and q2

  • Note that p+q=1 when p and q are representing allele frequencies

  • If you follow the frequencies of the alleles from generation to generation they won’t change in hardy weinberg equilibrium

  • Assumptions for staying in Hardy Weinberg Equilibrium:

    • Very large population

    • No gene flow between populations

      • When people move in and out of a population they disrupt

    • No mutations

      • Changing alleles or deleting genes modifies gene pool

    • Random mating

      • Individuals can’t mate preferentially

    • No natural selection

      • Natural selection alters allele frequencies

  • These 5 assumptions are rarely met in real populations

  • Since mutations are rare their effect on allele and genotype frequencies from one generation to the next is likely to be small.

  • 13.11- When is Hardy Weinberg equation useful

    • Scientists use it to estimate how many people have alleles for inherited diseases

    • Important for dealing with genetic diseases