GREEN PARK INTERNATIONAL SR. SEC.

SCHOOL, NAMAKKAL
X – BIOLOGY

CHAPTER – 9 HEREDITY AND EVOLUTION

INTEXT QUESTIONS PAGE NO. 143

1. If a trait A exists in 10% of a population of an asexually reproducing species and a Trait B exists in
60% of the same population, which trait is likely to have arisen earlier?
The trait B which exists in 60% of the same population is likely to have arisen earlier because it
has been passed over from generation to generation in the population and thus more individuals show
the trait.
(Or)
Trait ’B’
Percentage of any gene in a population increases from generation to generation.
2. How does the creation of variations in a species promote survival?
During reproduction (also inaccuracies in DNA replications), many variations occur in the
offspring. Some individuals have more favorable variations than the other. Such individuals survive and
pass these variations on their progeny. For example, if the temperature of water increases suddenly, most
of the bacteria living in that water would die. Only few variants resistant to heat would be able to
survive. If these variants were not there, then the entire species of bacteria would have been destroyed.
Thus, these variants help in the survival of the species.
However, not all variations are useful. Therefore, these are not necessarily beneficial for the
individual organisms.
(Or)
Variations enable species to adapt according to the changes and new needs and thus promotes
survival of the species.
INTEXT QUESTIONS PAGE NO. 147
1. How do Mendel’s experiments show that traits may be dominant or recessive?
Mendel crossed a homozygous tall plant with a homozygous dwarf plant. The F1 generation
obtained were all tall. Then he self pollinated the plants of F1 generation and found that the F2
generation obtained was 1 quarter dwarf. This indicates that both the tallness and dwarfness traits are
inherited in the F1 generation but only tallness trait was expressed which was dominant over the
unexpressed trait i.e., dwarfness. Hence, the trait for tallness was dominant over the trait for dwarfness
which was recessive.
Thus, Mendel’s experiment show that traits may be dominant or recessive.
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3. How do Mendel’s experiments show that traits are inherited independently?

Mendel crossed pea plants having round green seeds (RRyy) with pea plants having wrinkled
yellow seeds (rrYY).
Since the F1 plants are formed after crossing pea plants having green round seeds and pea plants
having yellow wrinkled seeds, F1 generation will have both these characters in them. However, as we
know that yellow seed colour and round seeds are dominant characters, therefore, the F1 plants will have
yellow round seeds.
Then this F1 progeny was self-pollinated and the F2 progeny was found to have yellow round
seeds, green round seeds, yellow wrinkled seeds, and green wrinkled seeds in the ratio of 9:3:3:1.
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RY Ry rY ry
RY RRYY RRYy RrYY RrYy Round /Yellow: 9
Ry RRYy RRyy RrYy Rryy Round / green: 3
rY RrYY RrYy rrYY rrYy wrinkled / Yellow:
Yellow 3
ry RrYy Rryy rrYy rryy wrinkled / green: 1

In the above cross, more than two factors are involved, and these are independently inherited.
4. A man with blood group A marries a woman with blood group O and their daughter has blood group
O. Is this information enough to tell you which of the traits – blood Group A or O – is dominant?
Why or why not?
No. This information is not sufficient to determine which of the traits – blood group A Or O – is
dominant. This is because we do not know about the blood group of all the progeny.
Blood group A can be genotypically AA or AO. Hence, the information
information is incomplete to draw
any such conclusion.
5. How is the sex of the child determined in human beings?
In human beings there are 23 pairs of chromosomes.
chromosom Out of these 22 chromosomes pairs are
called autosomes and the last pair of chromosome that help in deciding the gender of that individual is
called sex chromosome.
A male has one X chromosome and one Y chromosome. This means that half of the male
gametes or half of the spermss will have X chromosomes and the other half will have Y chromosomes.
A female has two X chromosomes. This means that all the female gametes called ova or eggs
will have only X chromosomes.
chromosome
The sex of a child depends on what happens at fertilization.
(a) If a sperm containing
ntaining X chromosome fertilizes
fertilize an ovum containing X , then the child born will
be a girl (a female). This is because the child will have XX combination of sex chromosomes.
(b) If a sperm containing Y chromosome fertilizes an ovum containing X , then the child born will
be a boy (a male). This is because the child will have XY combination of sex chromosomes.

Thiss shows that half the children will be boys and half will be girls. All children will inherit an X
chromosome from their mother regardless
regardless whether they are boys or girls. Thus sex of children will be
determined by what they inherit from their father, and not from their mother.
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EXERCISE QUESTIONS PAGE NO. 159

1. A Mendelian experiment consisted of breeding tall pea plants bearing violet flowers with short pea
plants bearing white flowers. The progeny all bore violet flowers, but almost half of them were
short. This suggests that the genetic make-up of the tall parent can be depicted as
(a) TTWW
(b) TTww
(c) TtWW
(d) TtWw
(c) TtWW.
Parent with genotype TtWW produce two types of gametes TW and tW, while the other with
genotype ttww produce only one type of gamete ‘tw’
4. A study found that children with light-coloured eyes are likely to have parents with light-coloured
eyes. On this basis, can we say anything about whether the light eye colour trait is dominant or
recessive? Why or why not?
From this study, we cannot make any inference whether light eye colour trait is recessive or
dominant, because as both the parents have light colour eye, all the children will definitely have light
colour eye (though certain variations may occur.)
7. Outline a project which aim to find the dominant coat colour in dogs.
Dogs have a variety of genes that govern coat colour. There are atleast eleven identified gene
series A, B, C, D, E, F, G, M, P, S, T that influence coat colour in dog. A dog inherits one gene from
each of its parents. The dominant gene gets expressed in the phenotype. For example, in the B series, a
dog can be genetically black or brown. Let us assume that one parent is homozygous black (BB), while
the other parent is homozygous brown (bb).
BB
B B
bb
b Bb Bb
b Bb Bb

Suppose a black homozygous male is mated with a brown homozygous female. If the progeny
has all black dogs then the dominant coat colour is black.
10. Explain how sexual reproduction gives rise to more viable variations than asexual reproduction. How
does this affect the evolution of those organisms that reproduce sexually?
Sexual reproduction gives rise to more complex viable variations because the number of
successful variations is maximized during sexual reproduction.
When two germ cells combine (maternal, paternal) the offsprings will inherit the variations of
both mother and father and hence variations are accumulated. So, the offsprings have the variations
different from both the parents leading to evolution.
Or
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Sexual reproduction involves fusion of gametes. The offsprings show variations from their
parents due to crossing over and exchange of gene segments. They are not carbon copies of their
parents, due to recombination of parental genes and produce better offsprings. Also, due to
environmental factors certain favourable variations are also produced. Due to production of variations,
sexually reproducing animals show very quick evolution.
Whereas in asexual reproduction, organisms raised are the exact copies of parents. They rarely
show any variation.
Or
In sexual reproduction, two individuals having different variations combine their DNA to give rise to
a new individual. Therefore, sexual reproduction allows more variations, whereas in asexual reproduction,
chance variations can only occur when the copying of DNA is not accurate. Additionally, asexual
reproduction allows very less variations because if there are more variations, then the resultant DNA will not
be able to survive inside the inherited cellular apparatus. However, in sexual reproduction, more variations
are allowed and the resultant DNA is also able to survive, thus making the variations viable.
Variation and Evolution: Variants help the species to survive in all the conditions. Environmental
conditions such as heat, light, pests, and food availability can change suddenly at only one place. At that
time, only those variants resistant to these conditions would be able to survive. This will slowly lead to
the evolution of a better adapted sexually reproducing organisms.
11. How is the equal genetic contribution of male and female parents ensured in the progeny?
Individually both male and female parents possess 23 pairs of chromosomes, i.e., they have 46
chromosomes. During gamete formation this diploid chromosome number gets halved. The female
gamete has 22 + X and the male gamete has 22 + X or 22 + Y chromosomes. When the male and female
gamete fuse, the chromosomal number again gets restored in the zygote which has 44 + XX or 44 + XY
chromosomes. In this way the equal genetic contribution of male and female gametes is ensured in the
progeny.
12. Only variations that confer an advantage to an individual organism will survive in a population. Do
you agree with this statement? Why or why not?
All the variations in a species do not have equal chances of surviving in the environment.
Depending on the nature of variations different individuals would have different kinds of
advantages. Selection of variants by environmental factors forms the basis of evolutionary process. The
variations which confer disadvantages to an individual organism will not survive because the
environmental factor cannot support this act.
Or
Yes. Because advantageous variations enable an organism to cope with the changes in the
environment.
For example: There is a sudden drop in environmental temperature of an area where bacteria
live. Under such condition, only those bacteria that can tolerate low temperature will survive in a cold
wave, while others do not. The survivors pass on this advantageous characters to their offsprings,
resulting in the formation of new species.