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Mendelian Genetics A lesson in…why I can roll my tongue but my father cannot.. A. Introduction Every day we observe heritable variations (eyes of brown, green, blue, or gray) among individuals in a population. These traits are transmitted from parents to offspring. One mechanism for this transmission is the “blending” hypothesis. This hypothesis proposes that the genetic material contributed by each parent mixes in a manner analogous to the way blue and yellow paints blend to make green. Over many generations, a freely mating population should give rise to a uniform population of individuals. However, the “blending” hypothesis appears incorrect as everyday observations and the results of breeding experiments contradict its predictions. An alternative model, proposes that parents pass on discrete heritable units - genes - that retain their separate identities in offspring. Modern genetics began in an abbey garden, where a monk names Gregor Mendel documented this type of inheritance. B. Mendel brought an experimental and quantitative approach to genetics Mendel grew up on a small farm in what is today the Czech Republic. In 1843, Mendel entered an Augustinian monastery. He studied at the University of Vienna from 1851 to 1853 where he was influenced by a physicist who encouraged experimentation and the application of mathematics to science and a botanist who sparked Mendel’s interest in the causes of variation in plants. These influences gelled in Mendel’s experiments. After the university, Mendel taught at the Brunn Modern School and lived in the local monastery. The monks at this monastery had a long tradition of interest in the breeding of plants, including peas. Around 1857, Mendel began breeding garden peas to study inheritance. Pea plants have several advantages for genetics. Pea plants are available in many varieties with distinct heritable features (characters) with different variants (traits). Another advantage of peas is that Mendel had strict control over which plants mated with which. Each pea plant has male (stamens) and female (carpal) sexual organs. In nature, pea plants typically selffertilize, fertilizing ova with their own sperm. However, Mendel could also move pollen from one plant to another to cross-pollinate plants. Click on animation In a typical breeding experiment, Mendel would cross-pollinate (hybridize) two contrasting, truebreeding pea varieties. The true-breeding parents are the P generation and their hybrid offspring are the F1 generation. Mendel would then allow the F1 hybrids to self-pollinate to produce an F2 generation. It was mainly Mendel’s quantitative analysis of F2 plants that revealed the two fundamental principles of heredity: the law of segregation and the law of independent assortment. C. Mendel’s Experiments and Conclusions If the blending model were correct, the F1 hybrids from a cross between purple-flowered and white-flowered pea plants would have pale purple flowers. Instead, the F1 hybrids all had purple flowers, just a purple as the purple-flowered parents. When Mendel allowed the F1 plants to self-fertilize, the F2 generation included both purple-flowered and white-flowered plants. The white trait, absent in the F1, reappeared in the F2. Based on a large sample size, Mendel recorded 705 purple-flowered F2 plants and 224 white-flowered F2 plants from the original cross. The results appeared in a 3:1 ratio of purple to white flowers Mendel reasoned that the inherited factor for white flowers was present in the F1 plants, but it did not affect flower color. Purple flower is a dominant trait and white flower is a recessive trait since the purple overpowered or masked the appearance of the white. The reappearance of white-flowered plants in the F2 generation indicated that the white trait was not diluted or “blended” by coexisting with the purple-flower factor in F1 hybrids. Mendel found similar 3 to 1 ratios of two traits among F2 offspring when he conducted crosses for six other characters, each represented by two different varieties. For example, when Mendel crossed two true-breeding varieties, one of which produced round seeds, the other of which produced wrinkled seeds, all the F1 offspring had round seeds, but among the F2 plants, 75% of the seeds were round and 25% were wrinkled. animation Mendel developed a hypothesis to explain these results that consisted of four related ideas. 1. Variations in inherited traits are due to different “factors” or different versions of a gene called alleles. Different alleles vary somewhat in the sequence of nucleotides at the specific locus of a gene. The purple-flower allele and white-flower allele are two DNA variations at the flower-color locus. P p 2. For each trait, an organism inherits two alleles, one from each parent. A diploid organism inherits one set of chromosomes from each parent. Each diploid organism has a pair of homologous chromosomes and therefore two copies of each locus. These alleles may be identical, as in the true-breeding plants of the P generation. (HOMOZYGOUS) Alternatively, the two alleles may differ. (HETEROZYGOUS) In the flower-color example, the F1 plants inherited a purple-flower allele from one parent and a white-flower allele from the other. 3. If two alleles differ, then one, the dominant allele, is fully expressed in the organism’s appearance. The other, the recessive allele, has no noticeable effect on the organism’s appearance. Mendel’s F1 plants had purple flowers because the purpleflower allele is dominant and the white-flower allele is recessive. animation 4. The two alleles for each character segregate (separate) during gamete production (The Law of Segregation) This segregation of alleles corresponds to the distribution of homologous chromosomes to different gametes in meiosis. If an organism has identical alleles (homozygous) for a particular trait, then that allele exists as a single copy in all gametes. If different alleles are present (heterozygous), then 50% of the gametes will receive one allele and 50% will receive the other. The separation of alleles into separate gametes (during meiosis) is summarized as Mendel’s law of segregation. Mendel’s law of segregation accounts for the 3:1 ratio that he observed in the F2 generation. The F1 hybrids will produce two classes of gametes, half with the purple-flower allele and half with the white-flower allele. During self-pollination, the gametes of these two classes unite randomly. This can produce four equally likely combinations of sperm and ovum. A Punnett square predicts the results of a genetic cross between individuals of known genotype. Video about Punnett squares A Punnett square analysis of the flower-color example demonstrates Mendel’s model. One in four F2 offspring will inherit two white-flower alleles and produce white flowers. Half of the F2 offspring will inherit one white-flower allele and one purple-flower allele and produce purple flowers. One in four F2 offspring will inherit two purple-flower alleles and produce purple flowers too. Mendel’s model accounts for the 3:1 ratio in the F2 generation Genetics has some unique, useful vocabulary. An organism with two identical alleles for a character is homozygous for that character. Organisms with two different alleles for a character is heterozygous for that character. A description of an organism’s traits or outward appearance is its phenotype. A description of its genetic makeup is its genotype. Ex. PP = homozygous (pure) dominant pp = homozygous recessive Pp = heterozygous (hybrid) For flower color in peas, both PP and Pp plants have the same phenotype (purple) but different genotypes (homozygous and heterozygous). The only way to produce a white phenotype is to be homozygous recessive (pp) for the flowercolor gene. It is not possible to predict the genotype of an organism with a dominant phenotype. The organism must have one dominant allele, but it could be homozygous dominant or heterozygous. A test cross is used to determine the genotype when the organism shows the dominant phenotype by breeding the organism with another that shows the recessive condition. The outcome of the offspring help solve the mystery genotype of the parent. D. The law of independent assortment and dihybrid crosses. Mendel’s experiments that followed the inheritance of flower color or other characters focused on only a single character via monohybrid crosses. He conduced other experiments in which he followed the inheritance of two different characters, a dihybrid cross. In one dihybrid cross experiment, Mendel studied the inheritance of seed color and seed shape. The allele for yellow seeds (Y) is dominant to the allele for green seeds (y). The allele for round seeds (R) is dominant to the allele for wrinkled seeds (r). Mendel crossed true-breeding plants that had yellow, round seeds (YYRR) with true-breeding plants that has green, wrinkled seeds (yyrr). Mendel hypothesized that the two pairs of alleles segregate independently of each other. The presence of one specific allele for one trait has no impact on the presence of a specific allele for the second trait. In our example, the F1 offspring would still produce yellow, round seeds. However, the F1’s produced gametes, genes would be packaged into gametes with all possible allelic combinations. Four classes of gametes (YR, Yr, yR, and yr) would be produced in equal amounts. F1 __ __ __ ___ x __ __ __ __ What are the phenotypic results of the F2 generation? Round and yellow _______ Round and green _______ Wrinkled and yellow _______ Wrinkled and green _______ When sperm with four classes of alleles and ova with four classes of alleles combined, there would be 16 equally probable ways in which the alleles can combine in the F2 generation. These combinations produce four distinct phenotypes in a 9:3:3:1 ratio. This was consistent with Mendel’s results. Mendel repeated the dihybrid cross experiment for other pairs of characters and always observed a 9:3:3:1 phenotypic ratio in the F2 generation. Each character appeared to be inherited independently. One trait does not determine the outcome of another. The independent assortment of each pair of alleles during gamete formation is now called Mendel’s law of independent assortment. E. Mendelian inheritance reflects rule of probability (Using the product law) Mendel’s laws of segregation and independent assortment reflect the same laws of probability that apply to tossing coins or rolling dice. The probability scale ranged from zero (an event with no chance of occurring) to one (an event that is certain to occur). For exampe, the probability of tossing heads with a normal coin is 1/2. When tossing a coin, the outcome of one toss has no impact on the outcome of the next toss. Each toss is an independent event, just like the distribution of alleles into gametes. Like a coin toss, each ovum from a heterozygous parent has a 1/2 chance of carrying the dominant allele and a 1/2 chance of carrying the recessive allele. The same odds apply to the sperm. We can use the rule of multiplication(THE PRODUCT LAW)->the chance that two or more independent events will occur together in some combination is equal to the product of each event occurring independently. Compute the probability of each independent event. Then, multiply the individual probabilities to obtain the overall probability of these events occurring together. The probability that two coins tossed at the same time will land heads up is 1/2 x 1/2 = 1/4. Using the product law Similarly, we can apply the same concept in a dihybrid cross. If two heterogyzous YyRr x YyRr (yellow and round) are crossed, what is the chance that a yellow wrinkled offspring will be produced? In a monohybrid cross involving just the Yy x Yy alleles, there is a ¾ chance that the offspring will be yellow. In another monohybrid cross between Rr x Rr, there is a ¼ chance the offspring will be wrinkled. Multiplying ¾ x ¼ = 3/16 gives you the chance that these events will occur together! We can combine the product law to solve complex problems in Mendelian genetics. Let’s determine the probability of finding all recessive phenotypes for three traits resulting from a trihybrid cross between pea plants : PpYyRr x Ppyyrr. 1st: Pp x Pp 2nd: Yy x yy 3rd: Rr x rr Chance for recessive is ¼ x ½ x ½ = 1/16 F. Mendel discovered the behavior of genes: a review Mendel’s experiments succeeded because he counted so many offspring and was able to discern this statistical feature of inheritance and had a keen sense of the rules of chance. Mendel’s laws of independent assortment and segregation explain heritable variation in terms of alternative forms of genes that are passed along according to simple rule of probability. These laws apply not just to garden peas, but to all other diploid organisms that reproduce by sexual reproduction. G. Things Mendel Never Knew… In the 20th century, geneticists have extended Mendelian principles not only to diverse organisms, but also to patterns of inheritance more complex than Mendel described. In fact, Mendel had the good fortune to choose a system that was relatively simple genetically. Each character (but one) is controlled by a single gene. Each gene has only two alleles, one of which is completely dominant to the other. However, in some cases one allele is not completely dominant over another. Some traits exhibit incomplete dominance where one allele does not overpower another. Instead, the two alleles combine to produce a third phenotype that is a blended effect of the parents. Offspring of a cross between individuals of parents with the blended or heterozygous condition will show three phenotypes The phenotypic and genotypic ratios are identical, 1:2:1. Examples of incomplete dominance? Red and white snapdragons produce pink snapdragons in the F1 generation. Japanese 4 o’clock flowers…red and white make pink. In Andalusian fowls, black feathered chickens crossed with white make a blue colored chicken. Cats with long tails bred with those without tails make a short tailed cat. Yellow rats crossed with white rats produced a cream colored offspring. A clear example of incomplete dominance is seen in flower color of snapdragons. How can we use a punnett square to show the F1 ratios of a red snapdragon crosses with a white one? Crossing 2 F1s? What letters can we use to illustrate incomplete dominance? Since both alleles are dominant, you can’t use a capital and lower case letter. The following is acceptable: Red = RR, White = R’R’, Pink = RR’ Red = CRCR, White = CWCW, Pink = CRCW Not as acceptable but will work… Red = RR, White = WW, Pink = RW At the other extreme from complete dominance is codominance in which two alleles both show up simultaneously to produce a third phenotype. For example, the ABO blood groups of humans are due to the presence of two specific antigens on the surface of red blood cells. People of type AB blood have both molecules and both alleles present. In another example of codominance, red cows crossed with white bulls make roan colored offspring. Roan coloration is due to the presence of both red and white hairs expressed simultaneously. Because an allele is dominant does not necessarily mean that it is more common in a population than the recessive allele. For example, polydactyly, in which individuals are born with extra fingers or toes, is due to an allele dominant to the recessive allele for five digits per appendage. However, the recessive allele is far more prevalent than the dominant allele in the population. 399 individuals out of 400 have five digits per appendage. Most genes have more than two alleles in a population (multiple alleles) The ABO blood groups in humans are determined by three alleles, IA, IB, and i (even though each individual can only have two of these alleles). Both the IA and IB alleles are dominant to the i allele The IA and IB alleles are codominant to each other. Because each individual carries two alleles, there are six possible genotypes and four possible blood types. Individuals that are IA IA or IA i are type A and place type A oligosaccharides on the surface of their red blood cells. Individuals that are IB IB or IB i are type B and place type B oligosaccharides on the surface of their red blood cells. Individuals that are IA IB are type AB and place both type A and type B oligosaccharides on the surface of their red blood cells. Individuals that are ii are type O and place neither oligosaccharide on the surface of their red blood cells. Matching compatible blood groups is critical for blood transfusions because a person produces antibodies against foreign blood factors. If the donor’s blood has an A or B oligosaccharide that is foreign to the recipient, antibodies in the recipient’s blood will bind to the foreign molecules, cause the donated blood cells to clump together, and can kill the recipient. http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=blood+types+and+red+blood+cells+and+antibodies&view=detailv2&&id=7065B4FA5DB2C858663177F 2EC5A8F3BFFCDE456&selectedIndex=0&ccid=TZzfE1UZ&simid=608031348362645359&thid=OIP.M4d9cdf135519e7b37acb5cdf1bd76540H0&aja xhist=0 Who can you donate and receive blood from? Blood type Can receive from? Can donate to? A A and O A and AB B B and O B and AB AB (universal recipient) O (universal donor) AB, A, B and O AB O O, AB, A and B What is the Rh factor? The Rh factor is another antigen found on the surface of the red blood cells. It was first identified in the rhesus monkey. If you have the rh antigen, you are positive (RR or Rr) If you don’t have it, you are negative (rr) Click on website Some characters do not fit the either-or basis that Mendel studied. Quantitative characters vary in a population along a continuum These are usually due to polygenic inheritance, the additive effects of two or more genes on a single phenotypic character. For example, skin color in humans is controlled by at least three different genes. Imagine that each gene has two alleles, one light and one dark, that demonstrate incomplete dominance. An AABBCC individual is dark and aabbcc is light. A cross between two AaBbCc individuals (intermediate skin shade) would produce offspring covering a wide range of shades. Individuals with intermediate skin shades would be the most likely offspring, but very light and very dark individuals are possible as well. The range of phenotypes forms a normal distribution. Phenotype depends on environment and genes. A single tree has leaves that vary in size, shape, and greenness, depending on exposure to wind and sun. For humans, nutrition influences height, exercise alters build, sun-tanning darkens the skin, and experience improves performance on intelligence tests. Even identical twins, genetic equals, accumulate phenotypic differences as a result of their unique experiences. The relative importance of genes and the environment in influencing human characteristics is a very old and hotly contested debate. What is epigenetics and how can environmental factors affect gene expression making even identical twins different? the study of changes in gene activity that do not involve alterations to the genetic code but still get passed down to at least one successive generation. These patterns of gene expression are governed by the cellular material — the epigenome — that sits on top of the genome, just outside it (hence the prefix epi-, which means above). It is these epigenetic "marks" that tell your genes to switch on or off, to speak loudly or whisper. It is through epigenetic marks that environmental factors like diet, stress and prenatal nutrition can make an imprint on genes that is passed from one generation to the next. http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/con tent/epigenetics/control/ http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/search/ results/?q=epigenetics Chemical tags alter the genome Methyl groups cause the genome to be tightly wound up The DNA cannot be read and the gene is turned off. Acetyl groups cause the genome to be loosely wound The DNA is easily read and the protein involved is produced. The gene is turned on. G. Pedigree analysis reveals Mendelian patterns in human inheritance Rather than manipulate mating patterns of people, geneticists analyze the results of matings that have already occurred. In a pedigree analysis, information about the presence/absence of a particular phenotypic trait is collected from as many individuals in a family as possible and across generations. The distribution of these characters is then mapped on the family tree. For example, the occurrence of widows peak (W) is dominant to a straight hairline (w). The relationship among alleles can be integrated with the phenotypic appearance of these traits to predict the genotypes of members of this family. • For example, if an individual in the third generation lacks a widow’s peak, but both her parents have widow’s peaks, then her parents must be heterozygous for that gene • If some siblings in the second generation lack a widow’ peak and one of the grandparents (first generation) also lacks one, then we know the other grandparent must be heterozygous and we can determine the genotype of almost all other individuals. We can use the same family tree to trace the distribution of attached earlobes (f), a recessive characteristic. Individuals with a dominant allele (F) have free earlobes. Some individuals may be ambiguous, especially if they have the dominant phenotype and could be heterozygous or homozygous dominant. A pedigree can help us understand the past and to predict the future. We can use the normal Mendelian rules, including multiplication and addition, to predict the probability of specific phenotypes. For example, these rules could be used to predict the probability that a child with WwFf parents will have a widow’s peak and attached earlobes. The chance of having a widow’s peak is 3/4 in a Ww x Ww cross. The chance of having attached earlobes is 1/4 [ff] in a Ff x Ff cross. This combination has a probability of 3/4 x 1/4 = 3/16. Pedigree analysis helps us track a particular trait in a family Example: A family in Kentucky has an unusual trait of blue skin. It is an autosomal recessive condition. Look at the Fugate family tree: H. Many human disorders follow Click on Mendelian patterns of inheritance website Thousands of genetic disorders, including disabling or deadly hereditary diseases, are inherited as simple recessive traits. These range from the relatively mild (albinism) to life-threatening (cystic fibrosis). The recessive behavior of the alleles occurs because the allele codes for either a malfunctioning protein or no protein at all. Heterozygotes have a normal phenotype because one “normal” allele produces enough of the required protein. A recessively inherited disorder shows up only in homozygous individuals who inherit one recessive allele from each parent. Individuals who lack the disorder are either homozygous dominant or heterozygotes. While heterozygotes may have no clear phenotypic effects, they are carriers who may transmit a recessive allele to their offspring. Most people with recessive disorders are born to carriers with normal phenotypes. Two carriers have a 1/4 chance of having a child with the disorder, 1/2 chance of a carrier, and 1/4 free. One such disease is cystic fibrosis which strikes one of every 2,500 whites of European descent. One in 25 whites is a carrier. The normal allele codes for a membrane protein that transports Cl- between cells and the environment. If these channels are defective or absent, there are abnormally high extracellular levels of chloride that causes the mucus coats of certain cells to become thicker and stickier than normal. This mucus build-up in the pancreas, lungs, digestive tract, and elsewhere favors bacterial infections. Without treatment, affected children die before five, but with treatment can live past their late 20’s. Tay-Sachs disease is another lethal recessive disorder. It is caused by a dysfunctional enzyme that fails to break down specific brain lipids. The symptoms begin with seizures, blindness, and degeneration of motor and mental performance a few months after birth. Inevitably, the child dies after a few years. Among Ashkenazic Jews (those from central Europe) this disease occurs in one of 3,600 births, about 100 times greater than the incidence among non-Jews or Mediterranean (Sephardic) Jews. The most common inherited disease among blacks is sickle-cell disease. It affects one of 400 African Americans. It is caused by the substitution of a single amino acid in hemoglobin. When oxygen levels in the blood of an affected individual are low, sickle-cell hemoglobin crystallizes into long rods. This deforms red blood cells into a sickle shape. This sickling creates a cascade of symptoms, demonstrating the pleiotropic effects of this allele. Doctors can use regular blood transfusions to prevent brain damage and new drugs to prevent or treat other problems. At the organismal level, the non-sickle allele is incompletely dominant to the sickle-cell allele. Carriers are said to have the sickle-cell trait. These individuals are usually healthy, although some suffer some symptoms of sickle-cell disease under blood oxygen stress. At the molecule level, the two alleles are codominant as both normal and abnormal hemoglobins are synthesized. The high frequency of heterozygotes with the sickle-cell trait is unusual for an allele with severe detrimental effects in homozygotes. Interestingly, individuals with one sickle-cell allele have increased resistance to malaria, a parasite that spends part of its life cycle in red blood cells. In tropical Africa, where malaria is common, the sickle-cell allele is both a boon and a bane. Homozygous normal individuals die of malaria, homozygous recessive individuals die of sickle-cell disease, and carriers are relatively free of both. Its relatively high frequency in African Americans is a vestige of their African roots. Normally it is relatively unlikely that two carriers of the same rare harmful allele will meet and mate. However, consanguineous matings, those between close relatives, increase the risk. These individuals who share a recent common ancestor are more likely to carry the same recessive alleles. Most societies and cultures have laws or taboos forbidding marriages between close relatives. Although most harmful alleles are recessive, many human disorders are due to dominant alleles. For example, achondroplasia, a form of dwarfism, has an incidence of one case in 10,000 people. Heterozygous individuals have the dwarf phenotype. Those who are not achodroplastic dwarfs, 99.99% of the population are homozygous recessive for this trait. Lethal dominant alleles are much less common than lethal recessives because if a lethal dominant kills an offspring before it can mature and reproduce, the allele will not be passed on to future generations. A lethal dominant allele can escape elimination if it causes death at a relatively advanced age, after the individual has already passed on the lethal allele to his or her children. One example is Huntington’s disease, a degenerative disease of the nervous system. The dominant lethal allele has no obvious phenotypic effect until an individuals is about 35 to 45 years old. The deterioration of the nervous system is irreversible and inevitably fatal. Any child born to a parent who has the allele for Huntington’s disease has a 50% chance of inheriting the disease and the disorder. Recently, molecular geneticists have used pedigree analysis of affected families to track down the Huntington’s allele to a locus near the tip of chromosomes 4. While some diseases are inherited in a simple Mendelian fashion due to alleles at a single locus, many other disorders have a multifactorial basis. These have a genetic component plus a significant environmental influence. Multifactorial disorders include heart disease, diabetes, cancer, alcoholism, and certain mental illnesses, such a schizophrenia and manicdepressive disorder. At present, little is understood about the genetic contribution to most multifactorial diseases The best public health strategy is education about the environmental factors and healthy behavior. I. Technology is providing new tools for genetic testing and counseling The risk that a particular genetic disorder will occur can sometimes be assessed before a child is conceived or early in pregnancy. Many hospitals have genetic counselors to provide information to prospective parents who are concerned about a family history of a specific disease. Most children with recessive disorders are born to parents with a normal phenotype. A key to assessing risk is identifying if prospective parents are carriers of the recessive trait. Recently developed tests for several disorders can distinguish between normal phenotypes in heterozygotes from homozygous dominants. The results allow individuals with a family history of a genetic disorder to make informed decisions about having children. However, issues of confidentiality, discrimination, and adequate information and counseling arise. Tests are also available to determine in utero if a child has a particular disorder. One technique, amniocentesis, can be used beginning at the 14th to 16th week of pregnancy to assess the presence of a specific disease. Fetal cells extracted from amniotic fluid are cultured and karyotyped to identify some disorders. Other disorders can be identified from chemicals in the amniotic fluids. A second technique, chorionic villus sampling (CVS) can allow faster karyotyping and can be performed as early as the eighth to tenth week of pregnancy. This technique extracts a sample of fetal tissue from the chorionic villi of the placenta. This technique is not suitable for tests requiring amniotic fluid. Some genetic tests can be detected at birth by simple tests that are now routinely performed in hospitals. One test can detect the presence of a recessively inherited disorder, phenylketonuria (PKU). This disorder occurs in one in 10,000 to 15,000 births. Individuals with this disorder accumulate the amino acid phenylalanine and its derivative phenypyruvate in the blood to toxic levels. This leads to mental retardation. If the disorder is detected, a special diet low in phenyalalanine usually promotes normal development. J. Mendel’s laws were confirmed by the chromosomal theory of inheritance Around 1900, cytologists and geneticists began to see parallels between the behavior of chromosomes and the behavior of Mendel’s factors. Chromosomes and genes are both present in pairs in diploid cells. Homologous chromosomes separate and alleles segregate during meiosis. Fertilization restores the paired condition for both chromosomes and genes. K. Morgan discovered how genes can be linked to the sex chromosomes Thomas Hunt Morgan was the first to associate a specific gene with a specific chromosome in the early 20th century. Like Mendel, Morgan made an insightful choice as an experimental animal, Drosophila melanogaster, a fruit fly species that eats fungi on fruit. Fruit flies are prolific breeders and have a generation time of two weeks. Fruit flies have three pairs of autosomes and a pair of sex chromosomes (XX in females, XY in males). Morgan spent a year looking for variant individuals among the flies he was breeding. He discovered a single male fly with white eyes instead of the usual red. The normal character phenotype is the wild type. Alternative traits are mutant phenotypes. When Morgan crossed his white-eyed male with a red-eyed female, all the F1 offspring had red eyes, The red allele appeared dominant to the white allele. Crosses between the F1 offspring produced the classic 3:1 phenotypic ratio in the F2 offspring. Surprisingly, the white-eyed trait appeared only in males. All the females and half the males had red eyes. Morgan concluded that a fly’s eye color was linked to its sex. Sex Linkage When a gene is sex linked, it means that it is carried on either the X or Y chromosome. Only a few genes are carried on the Y chromosome and are said to be “holandric”. An example of a holandric trait is hair on the earlobe (a hairy pinna) Who are the only individuals able to get holandric traits? Sex Linkage on the X chromosome Most sex linked trait are carried on the X chromosome. Examples include hemophilia, colorblindness, Duchennes muscular dystrophy and malepatterned baldness. Why are males more likely to get these sex linked traits than females? If a sex-linked trait is due to a recessive allele, a female has this phenotype only if homozygous. Heterozygous females will be carriers. Because males have only one X chromosome (hemizygous), any male receiving the recessive allele from his mother will express the trait. The chance of a female inheriting a double dose of the mutant allele is much less than the chance of a male inheriting a single dose. Therefore, males are far more likely to inherit sex-linked recessive disorders than are females. Several serious human disorders are sex-linked. Duchenne muscular dystrophy affects one in 3,500 males born in the United States. Affected individuals rarely live past their early 20s. This disorder is due to the absence of an X-linked gene for a key muscle protein, called dystrophin. The disease is characterized by a progressive weakening of the muscles and loss of coordination. Hemophilia is a sex-linked recessive trait defined by the absence of one or more clotting factors. These proteins normally slow and then stop bleeding. Individuals with hemophilia have prolonged bleeding because a firm clot forms slowly. Bleeding in muscles and joints can be painful and lead to serious damage. Individuals can be treated with intravenous injections of the missing protein. In fruit flies: Females (XX) may have two red-eyed alleles and have red eyes or may be heterozygous and have red eyes. Males (XY) can only have one allele for either red or white since they have only one X chromosome. Sex Linked Punnett Squares Most of the sex linked traits are recessive. Therefore, write a superscript over only the X chromosome to indicate the presence of the trait involved. For example, in colorblindness or hemophilia, let N= normal, n = colorblind or hemophiliac A female can be XNXN or XNXn (normal) or XnXn (have the disease) A male can only be XNY or XnY. He only needs one dose of the gene to be either normal or have the disease. Do the punnett squares as you would a monohybrid cross but use both X with the “N” alleles attached and Y to show the results. Cross a hemophiliac male with a female that is not a hemophiliac but whose father was. In fruit flies, eye color is a sex linked trait. Red (wildtype) is dominant to white eyes. Show a cross between a homozygous pure wildtype eyed female and a white -eyed male. Note: SRY gene controls proteins necessary for male sexual development L. Linked genes tend to be inherited together because they are located on the same chromosome Each chromosome has hundreds or thousands of genes. Genes located on the same chromosome, linked genes, tend to be inherited together because the chromosome is passed along as a unit. Results of crosses with linked genes deviate from those expected according to independent assortment. Morgan observed this linkage and its deviations when he followed the inheritance of characters for body color and wing size. The wild-type body color is gray (B)and the mutant black (b). The wild-type wing size is normal (V) and the mutant has vestigial wings (v). Morgan test crossed F1 heterozygous females (BbVv) with homozygous recessive males (bbvv). According to independent assortment, this should produce 4 phenotypes in a 1:1:1:1 ratio. Surprisingly, Morgan observed a large number of wild-type (graynormal) and double-mutant (black-vestigial) flies among the offspring. These phenotypes correspond to those of the parents. animation Morgan reasoned that body color and wing shape are usually inherited together because their genes are on the same chromosome. B V B V • The other two phenotypes (grayvestigial and black-normal) were fewer than expected from independent assortment (and totally unexpected from dependent assortment). • These new phenotypic variations must be the result of crossing over (aka recombination) In contrast, linked genes, genes located on the same chromosome, tend to move together through meiosis and fertilization. Under normal Mendelian genetic rules, we would not expect linked genes to recombine into assortments of alleles not found in the parents. The results of Morgan’s testcross for body color and wing shape did not conform to either independent assortment or complete linkage. Under independent assortment the testcross should produce a 1:1:1:1 phenotypic ratio. If completely linked, we should expect to see a 1:1:0:0 ratio with only parental phenotypes among offspring. Most of the offspring had parental phenotypes, suggesting linkage between the genes. However, 17% of the flies were recombinants, suggesting recombination (crossing over) Morgan proposed that some mechanism occasionally exchanged segments between homologous chromosomes. This switched alleles between homologous chromosomes. The actual mechanism, crossing over during prophase I, results in the production of more types of gametes than one would predict by Mendelian rules alone. The occasional production of recombinant gametes during prophase I accounts for the occurrence of recombinant phenotypes in Morgan’s testcross. M. Geneticists can use recombination data to map a chromosome’s genetic loci One of Morgan’s students, Alfred Sturtevant, used crossing over of linked genes to develop a method for constructing a chromosome map. This map is an ordered list of the genetic loci along a particular chromosome. Sturtevant hypothesized that the frequency of recombinant offspring reflected the distances between genes on a chromosome. The farther apart two genes are, the higher the probability that a crossover will occur between them and therefore a higher recombination frequency. The greater the distance between two genes, the more points between them where crossing over can occur. Sturtevant used the test cross design to map the relative position of three fruit fly genes, body color (b), wing size (vg), and eye color (cn). The recombination frequency between cn and b is 9%. The recombination frequency between cn and vg is 9.5%. The recombination frequency between b and vg is 17%. The only possible arrangement of these three genes places the eye color gene between the other two. Sturtevant expressed the distance between genes, the recombination frequency, as map units. One map unit is equivalent to a 1% recombination frequency. You may notice that the three recombination frequencies in our mapping example are not quite additive: 9% (b-cn) + 9.5% (cn-vg) > 17% (b-vg). This results from multiple crossing over events. Some genes on a chromosome are so far apart that a crossover between them is virtually certain. In this case, the frequency of recombination reaches is its maximum value of 50% and the genes act as if found on separate chromosomes and are inherited independently. In fact, several genes studies by Mendel are located on the same chromosome. For example, seed color and flower color are far enough apart that linkage is not observed. Plant height and pod shape should show linkage, but Mendel never reported results of this cross. Sturtevant and his colleagues were able to map the linear positions of genes in Drosophila into four groups, one for each chromosome. Map units indicate relative distance and order, not precise locations of genes. More recent techniques show the absolute distances between gene loci in DNA nucleotides. N. Alterations of chromosome number or structure cause some genetic disorders Nondisjunction occurs when problems with the meiotic spindle cause errors in daughter cells. This may occur if tetrad chromosomes do not separate properly during meiosis I. Alternatively, sister chromatids may fail to separate during meiosis II. Note: This is a chromosomal aberration not a specific gene mutation! As a consequence of nondisjunction, some gametes receive two of the same type of chromosome and another gamete receives no copy. Offspring results from fertilization of a normal gamete with one after nondisjunction will have an abnormal chromosome number or aneuploidy. Trisomic cells have three copies of a particular chromosome type and have 2n + 1 total chromosomes. One trisomy condition, Down syndrome, is due to three copies of chromosome 21. It affects one in 700 children born in the United States. Although chromosome 21 is the smallest human chromosome, it severely alters an individual’s phenotype in specific ways. Most cases of Down syndrome result from nondisjunction during gamete production in one parent. The frequency of Down syndrome correlates with the age of the mother. This may be linked to some agedependent abnormality in the spindle checkpoint during meiosis I, leading to nondisjunction. Trisomies of other chromosomes also increase in incidence with maternal age, but it is rare for infants with these autosomal trisomies to survive for long. Klinefelter’s syndrome, an XXY male, occurs once in every 2000 live births. These individuals have male sex organs, but are sterile. There may be feminine characteristics, but their intelligence is normal. Males with an extra Y chromosome (XYY) tend to somewhat taller than average. Trisomy X (XXX), which occurs once in every 2000 live births, produces healthy females. Monosomy X or Turner’s syndrome (X0), which occurs once in every 5000 births, produces phenotypic, but immature females. Organisms with more than two complete sets of chromosomes, have undergone polyploidy. This may occur when a normal gamete fertilizes another gamete in which there has been nondisjunction of all its chromosomes. The resulting zygote would be triploid (3n). Alternatively, if a 2n zygote failed to divide after replicating its chromosomes, a tetraploid (4n) embryo would result from subsequent successful cycles of mitosis. Polyploidy is relatively common among plants and much less common among animals. The spontaneous origin of polyploid individuals plays an important role in the evolution of plants. Both fishes and amphibians have polyploid species. Recently, researchers in Chile have identified a new rodent species which may be the product of polyploidy. Breakage of a chromosome can lead to four types of changes in chromosome structure. A deletion occurs when a chromosome fragment lacking a centromere is lost during cell division. This chromosome will be missing certain genes. A duplication occurs when a fragment becomes attached as an extra segment to a sister chromatid. An inversion occurs when a chromosomal fragment reattaches to the original chromosome but in the reverse orientation. In translocation, a chromosomal fragment joins a nonhomologous chromosome. Some translocations are reciprocal, others are not. Deletions and duplications are common in meiosis. Homologous chromatids may break and rejoin at incorrect places, such that one chromatid will lose more genes than it receives. A diploid embryo that is homozygous for a large deletion or male with a large deletion to its single X chromosome is usually missing many essential genes and this leads to a lethal outcome. Duplications and translocations are typically harmful. Structural alterations of chromosomes can also cause human disorders. Deletions, even in a heterozygous state, cause severe physical and mental problems. One syndrome, cri du chat, results from a specific deletion in chromosome 5. These individuals are mentally retarded, have a small head with unusual facial features, and a cry like the mewing of a distressed cat. This syndrome is fatal in infancy or early childhood. O. Mutations are caused by environmental factors Radiation from the bombing of Hiroshima and the nuclear accident at Chernobyl are causes for mutagenic agents. A person exposed to such high doses of radiation may have: • • • • • • • • a drop in blood cell counts hair loss nausea vomiting diarrhea skin burns an eventual increased risk for blood and thyroid cancers eventual death as a result of organ failure http://www.dailyinfographic.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/radiation-infographic.jpg P. Mitochondrial DNA has genes too! Not all of a eukaryote cell’s genes are located in the nucleus. Other genes are found on small circles of DNA in mitochondria and chloroplasts. These organelles reproduce themselves. Their cytoplasmic genes do not display Mendelian inheritance. They are not distributed to offspring during meiosis. Because a zygote inherits all its mitochondria only from the ovum, all mitochondrial genes in mammals demonstrate maternal inheritance. Several rare human disorders are produced by mutations to mitochondrial DNA. These primarily impact ATP supply by producing defects in the electron transport chain or ATP synthase. Tissues that require high energy supplies (for example, the nervous system and muscles) may suffer energy deprivation from these defects. Other mitochondrial mutations may contribute to diabetes, heart disease, and other diseases of aging.