Genetic

 Genetics is a branch of biology concerned with the study of gene,genetic variation and heredity in
organisms.
 Trait inheritance and molecular inheritance mechanisms of genes are still primary principles of
genetics in the 21st century but modern genetics has expanded beyond inheritance to studying the
function and behavior of genes.
 Gene structure and function, variation, and distribution are studied within the context of the cell,
the organism(e.g. dominance), and within the context of population.
 Genetics has given rise to a number of subfield, including molecular genetics, epigenetics and
population genetics.
 Genetic is related to your DNA the material you inherited from your biological partents.
 Mitosis and Meiosis

Mitosis is a process of asexual reproduction in which the cell divides in two production a replica,
with an equal number of chromosomes in each resulting diploid cell.
Meiosis is a type of cellular reproduction in which the number of chromosomes are reduced by
half through the separation of homologous chromosomes, production two haploid cells.
Sexual Reproduction: Meiosis
 A second type of cell division called meiosis takes place in multicellular eukaryotes.
 This is a reduction division in which the daughter cells receive exactly half the number of chromosomes of
the mother cells.
 Meiosis occurs in the production of gametes—the sperm of the males and the eggs of the females.
 When a sperm fertilizes an egg, a zygote is produced with the appropriate number of chromosomes for the
species—in humans (and potatoes) the zygote and the somatic (body) cells produced from it have 46
chromosomes.
 This is the diploid (2n) number of chromosomes, half of which have come from the sperm nucleus, half
from the egg. The sperm and egg are haploid ( n); they carry half the number of chromosomes of the body
cells (in humans, 23 in each sperm and egg).
 Meiosis thus makes it possible to maintain a constant number of chromosomes in a species that reproduces
sexually by halving the number of chromosomes in the reproductive cells.
 Meiosis uses many of the same mechanisms as mitosis and is assumed to have been derived from mitosis
after the latter procedures were in place in some early organisms millenia ago.
• In Prophase I, homologous chromosomes come together in synapsis and form pairs
called bivalents or tetrads (because there are four chromatids in the pair); each bivalent has two
chromosomes and four tetrads.
• In Metaphase I, bivalents align randomly on the equatorial plane, which means that each daughter cell
has an equal chance of getting either the chromosome from the sperm or one from the egg.
• In Anaphase I, the chromosomes separate, each with two chromatids, and move to opposite poles; each
of the two daughter cells is now haploid ( n).
• There is no S phase, and the chromosomes line up immediately in Metaphase II, their chromatids
separate in Anaphase II and in Telophase II new cell walls form around the four haploid cells. (Events of
the second division are similar to those of mitosis.)
• Synapsis in Prophase I is a decisive interval in determining the inheritance of the daughter cells. At this
time, genetic recombination can occur; that is, daughter cells may receive combined traits of their two
parents rather than simply the trait from one or the other. This is possible because the phenomenon
called crossing over often occurs when the chromatids lie together—segments containing
similar alleles break apart and rejoin to the corresponding segment of the opposite chromatid, thus
mixing the traits from individual parents.
Comparison of mitosis and meiosis
S.N Differences Mitosis Meiosis
1. Type of Reproduction Asexual Sexual
2. Generically Similar Different
3. Crossing Over No, crossing over cannot occur Yes, mixing of chromosomes
can occur.
4. Number of Divisions One Two
5. Pairing of Homologs No Yes
6. Mother Cells Can be either haploid or diploid Always diploid
7. Number of Daughter Cells 2 diploid cells 4 haploid cells
produced
8. Chromosome Number Remains the same Reduced by half
9. Takes Place in Somatic Cells Germ Cells
10. Steps Prophase, Metaphase, Anaphase, Prophase I , Metaphase I,
Telophase Anaphase I, Telophase I,
Prophase II, Metaphase II,
Anaphase II and Telophase II.

11. Karyokinesis Occurs in Interphase. Occurs in Interphase I.

12. Cytokinesis Occur in Telophase. Occur in Telophase I and II.
13. Discovered by Walther Flemming Oscar Hertwig

14. Function Cellular reproduction and general growth and repair Genetic diversity through
of the body. sexual reproduction.
 Cell Division and Molecular Genetics
Eukaryote Cell Division: The Cell Cycle
• When compared with prokaryotic cell division, the process isn't as simple in eukaryotes, where linear chromosomes that are
contained within a membrane‐bound nucleus have to be apportioned equally between two daughter cells. If something goes
wrong and they aren't distributed equally, chances are the daughter cells will die for lack of instructions on how properly to
conduct the business of life. The eukaryote cell is also filled with organelles and other cytoplasmic materials that must be
divided. Small wonder, then, that the process not only is more highly orchestrated, but that it takes much longer to
accomplish.
• The essentially continuous process of cellular division in body ( somatic) cells has three significant steps: 1.) the actual
division of the nucleus, called mitosis; 2.) the division of the cytoplasmic material— cytokinesis—into two daughter cells
after the nuclear division; and 3.) the interphase just before and after division. The division to produce sex cells ( gametes)
is called meiosis and involves still other complications.
• The entire sequence of repeating events from one mitotic division to the next is referred to as the cell cycle. The cycle has
two principal parts: 1.) interphase, divided into G 1 (Gap 1), S (DNA synthesis), and G 2 (Gap 2) and, 2.) the M phase—the
combination of mitosis and cytokinesis. Figure diagrams the stages in the cycle, and Table lists the events of significance in
each. Figure diagrams the steps in mitosis.
• The time to complete the cell cycle varies among species, the tissues in which the cells occur, and general environmental
conditions. Of the nuclear division stages, prophase is the longest, and the separation and movement of the daughter
chromatids in anaphase is the shortest. Relative lengths might be: prophase 1 to 2+ hours, metaphase 5 to 15 minutes,
anaphase 2 to 10 minutes, and telophase 10 to 30 minutes. A fourth interphase stage— G 0 —often is present in plants. It
can occur at almost any point and is induced by unfavorable growing conditions, such as the onset of cold winter weather o
by drought during the summer. It is a holding stage while the plant is dormant.
Prokaryote Cell Division
 The continuity of life depends upon the ability of cells to reproduce.
 In the prokaryotes, cellular reproduction is by binary fission, an asexual division of the contents of a single cell into two
new cells of approximately equal size.
 The process is fast and relatively simple: The circular bacterial chromosome replicates, and the two new genomes move
toward opposite ends of the cell.
 A new plasma membrane is added between them, dividing the cytoplasm roughly in two, and the cell splits.
 Each of the two daughter cells formed has a complete set of genes and some materials with which to begin an
independent life.
 During periods of active growth, the new cells acquire and metabolize nutrients, grow, replicate their bacterial
chromosome, and reproduce once more. In a favorable environment—bathed in the warm rich nutrients of the small
intestine, for example—the bacterial cells can divide every 20 to 30 minutes.
Mutation

A mutation is defined as any change in the DNA of an organism—a sufficiently broad definition to include all
manner of changes: deletions (a piece of the chromosome breaks off and is lost), translocations (pieces of
material are exchanged between two nonhomologous chromosomes), inversions (two breaks occur and the
segment in between rotates and reattaches with its gene sequence in opposite direction to the original), base
substitutions (a different base is substituted for the original), duplications (gene sequences are repeated and added
to the chromosome), and other changes.
Point mutations (gene mutations) are changes in DNA that are limited to one base pair; the gene changes and
becomes different from its allele. Chromosome mutations occur when parts of a chromosome, or whole
chromosomes, change.
Spontaneous mutations occur suddenly in the nature and their origin is unknown. They are called “background
mutation” and have been reported in many organisms.
Dominant mutations have dominant phenotypic expression are called dominant mutation.
Recessive mutations are recessive in nature and so they are not expressed phenotypically immediately. The
phenotypic effect of mutations of a recessive gene is seen only after one or more generations, when the mutant
gene is able to recombine with another similar recessive gene.
Lethal mutations result in the death of the organisms.
Intricacies of Inheritance
 Continued breeding experiments, better microscopes, and more scientists working in the field have advanced the
knowledge of inheritance in organisms and, at the same time, complicated the simple patterns discovered by
Mendel.
 This article covers some of the intricacies.
 Shortly after the genetic community accepted Mendel's Law of Independent Assortment, several exceptions to its
operation were found.
 Most of these exceptions were the result of linkage of the genes being studied on one chromosome. When the
usual crosses were made (P 1: parents pure‐line dominant for two traits × pure‐line recessive for two traits), the F 1

individuals of the cross were all dominant and presumably heterozygous.

 Selfing (transferring pollen from the anthers to the stigma of the same flower) of the F 1 resulted in no predictable
ratios, and never the expected 9:3:3:1.
 Two phenotypes, those of the original P 1 parents, were in high frequency in the F 2 and two other phenotypes, in
low frequency, combined the phenotypes of the two original parents.
 In searching for explanations for the phenomena, the scientists followed the principle of parsimony—that is,
they looked first for the simplest explanation that fits all the facts.
 In this instance, the simplest interpretation—and the correct one—is that the genes for the traits lie close together
Linkage and crossing over
 Linkage might properly explain the high frequencies of two phenotypes, but what of the low frequency, other
combinations? The most logical explanation is that during Prophase I of meiosis when the four chromatids of
two homologous chromosomes lie close together, crossing over occurs; that is, there is a physical exchange of
material between non‐sister chromatids and a genetic recombination.
 Thus, unexpected gene frequencies occur because genes no longer travel in their previous sequences.
 The X‐shaped location of the crossover is called the chiasma (plural, chiasmata), and there may be several in
each pair.
 If genes lie close together on a chromosome, there is less chance of crossing over taking place than if they lie
farther apart. After tabulating the frequency of crossing over for known genes, it is possible to construct linkage
maps of the chromosomes and determine approximate locations of genes.
Other variations
 Numerous other varieties of interactions occur.
 Epistasis (epi = upon), for example, results when the action of one gene masks the expression of a different gene.
 Some plants have multiple alleles for a specific gene. Others have polygenic inheritance in which many genes
combine to express a trait.
 The differences in the trait show a continuous variation because none of the genes have a clear dominance over
the others. Genes that influence several phenotypic characteristics are termed pleiotropic genes.