Option (B) Is The Answer.: NCERT Exemplar Solution of Class 12 Biology Chapter 5 Principle of Inheritance and Variation
Option (B) Is The Answer.: NCERT Exemplar Solution of Class 12 Biology Chapter 5 Principle of Inheritance and Variation
Option (B) Is The Answer.: NCERT Exemplar Solution of Class 12 Biology Chapter 5 Principle of Inheritance and Variation
MULTIPLE-CHOICE QUESTIONS
6. The person having genotype IA IB would show the blood group as AB. This is
because of:
NCERT Exemplar Solution of Class 12
Biology Chapter 5 Principle of Inheritance and
Variation.
a. Pleiotropy
b. Co-dominance
c. Segregation
d. Incomplete dominance
Solution:
Option (b) is the answer.
8. A cross between two tall plants resulted in offspring having few dwarf
plants. What would be the genotypes of both the parents?
a. TT and Tt
b. Tt and Tt
c. TT and TT
d. Tt and tt
Solution:
Option (b) is the answer.
10. Which of the following will not result in variations among siblings?
a. Independent assortment of genes
b. Crossing over
c. Linkage
d. Mutation
Solution:
Option (c) is the answer.
11. Mendel’s Law of independent assortment holds good for genes situated
on the:
a. non-homologous chromosomes
b. homologous chromosomes
c. extranuclear genetic element
d. same chromosome
NCERT Exemplar Solution of Class 12
Biology Chapter 5 Principle of Inheritance and
Variation.
Solution:
Option (b) is the answer.
12. Occasionally, a single gene may express more than one effect. The
the phenomenon is called:
a. multiple allelism
b. mosaicism
c. pleiotropy
d. polygeny
Solution:
Option (c) is the answer.
13. In a certain taxon of insects, some have 17 chromosomes and the others
have 18 chromosomes. The 17 and 18 chromosome-bearing organisms
are:
a. males and females, respectively
b. females and males, respectively
c. all males
d. all females
Solution:
Option (a) is the answer.
15. It is said that Mendel proposed that the factor controlling any character
is discrete and independent. His proposition was based on the
a. results of the F3 generation of a cross.
b. observations that the offspring of a cross made between the plants
having two contrasting characters shows only one character
without any blending.
c. self-pollination of F1 offsprings
d. cross-pollination of F1 generation with recessive parent
Solution:
Option (b) is the answer.
16. Two genes ‘A’ and ‘B’ are linked. In a dihybrid cross involving these two
genes, the F1 heterozygote is crossed with the homozygous recessive parental
type (aa bb). What would be the ratio of offspring in the next generation?
NCERT Exemplar Solution of Class 12
Biology Chapter 5 Principle of Inheritance and
Variation.
a. 1: 1 : 1: 1
b. 9 : 3 : 3: 1
c. 3: 1
d. 1: 1
Solution:
Option (d) is the answer.
18. Mother and father of a person with ‘O’ blood group have ‘A’ and ‘B’ blood
group, respectively. What would be the genotype of both mother and
father?
a. Mother is homozygous for ‘A’ blood group and father is
heterozygous for ‘B’
b. Mother is heterozygous for ‘A’ blood group and father is
homozygous for ‘B’
c. Both mother and father are heterozygous for ‘A’ and ‘B’ blood
group, respectively
d. Both mother and father are homozygous for ‘A’ and ‘B’ blood group,
respectively
Solution:
Option (c) is the answer.
1. What is the cross between the progeny of F1 and the homozygous recessive parent called? How
is it useful?
Solution:
The cross between the progeny of F1 (that is F2 generation) and the homozygous recessive parent is
called Test cross and useful to identify the genotype (genetic makeup) of a plant whose phenotype
(visible expression) is known.
2. Do you think Mendel’s laws of inheritance would have been different if the characters that he
chose were located on the same chromosome?
Solution:
Mendel’s laws of inheritance would not have been different even if the characters were located on the
same chromosome because Mendel’s laws of inheritance would not have been different even if the
characters were located on the same chromosome.
NCERT Exemplar Solution of Class 12
Biology Chapter 5 Principle of Inheritance and
Variation.
4. A person has to perform crosses to study the inheritance of a few traits/characters. What should
be the criteria for selecting the organisms?
Solution:
The criterion for selecting the organisms is true breeding.
5. The pedigree chart given below shows a particular trait which is absent in parents but present
in the next generation irrespective of sexes. Draw your conclusion based on the pedigree.
Solution:
Based on pedigree, both the parents are a carrier and among the offspring’s a few shows the trait which
is indifferent of sex. The other one may either normal or carrier
6. To obtain the F1 generation Mendel pollinated a pure-breeding tall plant with a pure breeding
dwarf plant. But forgetting the F2 generation, he simply self-pollinated the tall F1 plants. Why?
Solution:
To obtain the F1 generation Mendel pollinated a pure-breeding tall plant with a pure breeding dwarf
plant because of true breeding. Out of 100%, 50% of the offspring of genotype resembles their parent
and rest the other parent. Self-pollination is allowed as the offspring of the cross are heterozygous.
7. Genes contain the information that is required to express a particular trait.” Explain.
Solution:
NCERT Exemplar Solution of Class 12
Biology Chapter 5 Principle of Inheritance and
Variation.
8. How are the alleles of a particular gene differ from each other? Explain its significance.
Solution:
When the allelic pairs of genes are identical then they are called homozygous and when the alleles of a
gene are different it is heterozygous. A dominant factor is that a pair of dissimilar factors one dominates
the other while the other called as recessive factor. The dominant one is denoted by upper case and
recessive one with lower case. For example T is used for tall and t for dwarf of the same character-
height.
9. In a monohybrid cross of plants with red and white-flowered plants, Mendel got only red-
flowered plants. On self-pollinating these F1 plants got both red and white-flowered plants in 3:1
ratio. Explain the basis of using RR and rr symbols to represent the genotype of plants of the
parental generation.
Solution:
On crossing red (RR) and white(rr) flowering plants, Mendel got only red-flowered plants with genotype
Rr. This is the filial progeny (F1) or plants of the 1st hybrid generation. F1 always resembled either one
of the parents and the trait of other parent was not seen in them.
10. For the expression of traits, genes provide only the potentiality and the environment provides
the opportunity. Comment on the veracity of the statement.
Solution:
The phenotype of individuals is a result of the combined effect of environment and genotype.
Phenotype = Genotype + Environment
11. A, B, D are three independently assorting genes with their recessive alleles a, b, d, respectively.
A cross was made between individuals of Aa bb DD genotype with aa bb dd. Find out the type of
genotypes of the offspring produced.
Solution:
The given cross is Aa bb DD X aa bb dd. Hence the offspring’s would be:
NCERT Exemplar Solution of Class 12
Biology Chapter 5 Principle of Inheritance and
Variation.
12. In our society, a woman is often blamed for not bearing a male child. Do you think it is right?
Justify.
Solution:
Sex of the baby is determined by the father, not by the mother. 50% of sperms carry X chromosome and
50% carry the Y. After the fusion zygote carries XX or YY chromosomes depending on the sperm
carrying X or Y.
14. Even if a character shows multiple allelism, an individual will only have two alleles for that
character. Why?
Solution:
A diploid organism has more than two alleles and shows two alleles of a character. When population
studies are made multiple alleles can be found.
1. In a Mendelian monohybrid cross, the F2 generation shows identical genotypic and phenotypic
ratios. What does it tell us about the nature of alleles involved? Justify your answer.
Solution:
In a monohybrid cross, starting with parents which are homozygous dominant and homozygous
recessive, F1, at the same time with incomplete dominance can show identical genotypic and phenotypic
ratios.
2. Can a child have blood group O if his parents have blood group ‘A’ and ‘B’? Explain.
Solution:
Yes, it is possible for a child to have blood group O if his parents have blood groups A and B. ABO
blood grouping in humans is controlled by the gene I. The gene (I) has three alleles IA, IB and i. The
genotype of blood group A is IAIA or IAi; blood group B is IBIB or IBi and that of blood group O is ii.
3. What is Down’s syndrome? Give its symptoms and cause. Why is it that the chance of having a
child with Down’s syndrome increases if the age of the mother exceeds forty years?
Solution:
Down syndrome is caused due to the presence of an additional copy of chromosome number 21
9trisomy of 21). Karyotype with 23 pairs of autosomes and 1 pair of sex chromosomes. (total of 24 pairs
i.e. 47 chromosomes). The chances of having a child with Down’s syndrome increases if the age of the
mother exceeds forty years because ova are present in females since their birth and therefore older cells
NCERT Exemplar Solution of Class 12
Biology Chapter 5 Principle of Inheritance and
Variation.
5. A plant with red flowers was crossed with another plant with yellow flowers. If F1 showed all
flowers orange in colour, explain the inheritance.
Solution:
The inheritance is of incomplete dominance. F1 had a phenotype that did not resemble either of the
parent plants and was in between the two.
NCERT Exemplar Solution of Class 12
Biology Chapter 5 Principle of Inheritance and
Variation.
7. In peas, tallness is dominant over dwarfness, and red colour of flowers is dominant over the
white colour. When a tall plant bearing red flowers was pollinated with a dwarf plant bearing
white flowers, the different phenotypic groups were obtained in the progeny in numbers
mentioned against them:
9. If a father and son are both defective in red-green colour vision, is it likely that the son inherited
the trait from his father? Comment.
Solution:
Colour blindness is a common hereditary condition which means it is passed down from parents. When
the father is colour blind, he can only pass an X chromosome to his daughter. Hence a colour blind boy
NCERT Exemplar Solution of Class 12
Biology Chapter 5 Principle of Inheritance and
Variation.
can’t receive a colour blind gene from his father, even if his father is colour blind. A father can only pass
the Y gene to his son.
10. Discuss why Drosophila has been used extensively for genetical studies.
Solution:
Drosophila has been used extensively for genetical studies because it is a simple synthetic medium that
could be grown in the laboratory. A single mating can produce a large number of progeny files and their
life cycle is about 2 weeks.
11. How do genes and chromosomes share similarity from genetical studies?
Solution:
1. It both occurs in pair
2. At the time of the formation of gamete, genes and chromosome separate and one of each pair is
transmitted to a gamete.
3. The pairs will independently separate each other.
12. What is recombination? Discuss the applications of recombination from genetic engineering.
Solution:
Recombination is the generation of non-parental gene combinations by either crossing over or
independent assortment. Alfred Sturtevant used the frequency of recombination between gene pairs on
the same chromosome as a measure of the distance between the genes and mapped their positions on the
chromosome
13. What is artificial selection? Do you think it affects the process of natural selection? How?
Solution:
It is a selection in which humans select desired traits or a combination of traits for exploiting the
variations among species. The process of natural selection gets arrested and promoted the growth of
desired traits only in plants. It can lead to decreased yield and growth.
14. With the help of an example differentiate between incomplete dominance and co-dominance.
Solution:
In the incomplete dominance, it produces a mixture of the expression of two alleles and the F1 does not
resemble either of the parents. An example is flower colour in a dog flower. In co-dominance, there is
no mixing of the two alleles and F1 resembles both the parent. For example ABO blood group in
humans.
15. It is said, that the harmful alleles get eliminated from the population over some time, yet sickle
cell anaemia is persisting in the human population. Why?
Solution:
Sickle cell anaemia is persisting in the human population. It is affected individuals carrying mutations in
both the parental and maternal inherited haemoglobin gene. There is an advantage that the patients are
better protected against malaria. And this can be the reason for the harmful alleles of sickle cell anaemia
to persist in the human population despite the elimination of harmful genes over time.
1. In a plant, tallness is dominant over dwarfness and red flower is dominant over white. Starting
with the parents work out a dihybrid cross. What is the standard dihybrid ratio? Do you think the
values would deviate if the two genes in question are interacting with each other?
Solution:
2. a. In humans, males are heterogametic and females are homogametic. Explain. Are there any
examples where males are homogametic and females heterogametic?
b. Also describe as to, who determines the sex of an unborn child? Mention whether the
temperature has a role in sex determination.
Solution:
NCERT Exemplar Solution of Class 12
Biology Chapter 5 Principle of Inheritance and
Variation.
In human beings, it has XY chromosomes which determine the sex. Both male and female have the
same number of chromosomes. Males an X chromosome and Y chromosome is present. However,
females have a pair of the X chromosome. They have autosomes also. Males have autosomes plus XY
that is heterogametic and females have autosomes plus XX which is female homogametic. Birds are
examples where males are homogametic and females heterogametic as birds have a different sex-
determining mechanism where two different types of gametes in terms of sex chromosomes are
produced by females: female heterogamety.
b. The sex of an unborn baby is determined by his father. In some reptiles, they use incubation
temperature to determine sex. In some species the pattern is; the eggs in extreme low or high
temperature become male and eggs in medium temperature become female. Thus temperature has a role
in sex determination.
3. A normal visioned woman, whose father is colour blind, marries a normal visioned man. What
would be the probability of her sons and daughters to be colour blind? Explain with the help of a
pedigree chart.
Solution:
The colour blindness is a disease which can be passed from parents.
4. Discuss in detail the contributions of Morgan and Sturvant in the area of genetics.
Solution:
Thomas Hunt Morgan and his colleagues experimentally verified the theory of inheritance and carried
several dihybrid crosses of drosophila to study the sex-linked genes. Example: Morgan hybridized
yellow bodied, white-eyed females to brown bodied, red-eyed males and intercrossed their F1 progeny.
He observed that the two genes did not segregate independently of each other and the F2 ratio deviated
NCERT Exemplar Solution of Class 12
Biology Chapter 5 Principle of Inheritance and
Variation.
vary significantly from 9:3:3:1 ratio. Morgan and his colleagues saw the two genes located in the same
chromosome. Morgan concluded this due to the physical association of two genes or linkage. Even
though they are in the same chromosome some are tightly and some are loosely linked showed only
1.3% recombination while white and miniature wing showed 37.2% recombination.
5. Define aneuploidy. How is it different from polyploidy? Describe the individuals having
following chromosomal abnormalities.