CBSE

Class 10 Science
Revision Notes
CHAPTER – 09
HEREDITY & EVOLUTION

Genetics : Branch of science that deals with Heredity and variation.

Heredity : It means the transmission of features/ characters/ traits from one
generation to the next generation.
Variation : The differences among the individuals of a species/population are called
variations.It takes place due to environment changes,crossing over,and
recombination of genes and mutation.
Genotype: The complete set of genes in an organism’s genome is called genotype.
Phenotype: The observable characters in an organism make the phenotype.
Phenotype is a modified genotype and many of the phenotypes cannot be inherited.
Clones are those organisms which are exact copies of each other.

Mendel and His Work on Inheritance

Gregor Johann Mendel (1822& 1884) : Started his experiments on plant breeding and
hybridisation. He proposed the laws of inheritance in living organisms.
Law of Dominance, Law of segregation, Law of Independent Assortment.

Mendel was known as Father of Genetics

Plant selected by Mendel : Pisumsativum (garden pea). Mendel used a number of

contrasting characters for garden pea.

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 Mendel's Experiments : Mendel conducted a series of experiments inwhich he
crossed the pollinated plants to study one character (at a time)

Cross between two pea plants with one pair of contrasting characters is called a
monohybridcross.

Cross between a tall and a draft plant (short).

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Phenotypic ratio : 3:1

Genotypic ratio : 1:2:1

Phenotype ® Physical appearance [Tall or Short]

Genotype ® Physical appearance [Tall or short]

Observations of Monohybrid Cross

1. All F1 progeny were tall (no medium height plant (half way characteristic)
2. F2 progeny ¼ were short, 3/4 were tall
3. Phenotypic ratio F2 – 3 : 1 (3 tall : 1 short)

Genotypic ratio F2 – 1:2:1

Conclusions

1. TT and Tt both are tall plants while tt is a short plant.

2. A single copy of T is enough to make the plant tall, while both copies have to be ‘t’ for the
plant to be short.

3. Characters/Traits like 'T' are called dominant trait (because it express itself) and ‘t’ are
recessive trait (because it remains suppressed)

From these observation, Mendel put forward the rules of inheritance

Law of Segregation: Every individual possesses a pair of alleles for a particular trait. During
gamete formation, a gamete receives only one trait from the alleles. A particular trait can be
dominant or recessive in a particular generation.

Dihybrid Cross : A cross between two plants having two pairs of contrasting characters is
called dihybrid cross.

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Phenotypic Ratio

Round, yellow : 9
Round, green : 3
Wrinkled, yellow : 3
Wrinkled, green : 1

Observations

1. When RRyy was crossed with rrYY in F1 generation all were Rr Yy round and yellow
seeds.
2. Self pollination of F plants gave parental phenotype and two mixtures(recombinants
round yellow & wrinkled green) seeds plants in the ratio of 9:3:3:1

Conclusions

1. Round and yellow seeds are DOMINANT characters

2. Occurrence of new phenotypic combinations show that genes for round and yellow seeds
are inherited independently of each other.
Law of Independent Assortment: Alleles of different characters separate independent from
each other during gamete formation.

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In the above example,alleles of texture were assorted independently from those of seed
colour.

SEX DETERMINATION
Determination of sex of an offspring.

FACTORS

Sex Chromosomes :In human beings there are 23 pairs of chromosome. Out of these 22
chromosomes pairs are called autosomes and the last pair of chromosome that help in
deciding gender of that individual is called sex chromosome.

XX – female
XY – male

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This shows that half the children will be boys and half will be girls. All children will inherit
an X chromosome from their mother 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.

EVOLUTION

Evolution is the sequence of gradual changes which takes place in the primitive organisms,
over millions of years, in which new species are produced.

Situation - I

Situation 1 : Green beetles got the survival advantage or they were naturally selected as they
were not visible in green bushes. This natural selection is exerted by crows resulting in
adaptations in the beetles to fit better in their environment

Situation-II

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Situation 2 : Blue beetles did not get survivals advantage. Elephant suddenly caused major
havoc in beetle population otherwise their number would have been considerably large.

From this we can conclude that accidents can change the frequency of some genes even if
they do not get survival advantage: This is called genetic drift and it leads to variation.

SITUATION-III

Group of red beetles

Habitat of beetles (bushes)

Suffer from plant disease

Average weight of beetles

decreases due to poor nourishment

Number of beetles kept on reducing

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Later plant disease gets eliminated

Number and average weight of the beetles

increases again

Situation 3 : No genetic change has occurred in the population of beetle.The population gets
affected for a short duration only due to environmentalchanges.

ACQUIRED AND INHERITED TRAITS

Acquired Traits Inherited Traits

1.These are the traits which are developed 1. These are the traits which are passed from
in an individual due to special conditions one generation to the next.

They cannot be transferred to the progeny 2. They get transferred to the progeny.

They cannot direct evolutioneg. Low weight 3. They are helpful in evolution.eg. Colour of
of starving beetles eyes and hair

SPECIATION

Micro Evolution : It is the evolution which is on a small scale. e.g.change in body colour of
beetles.

The process by which new species develop from the existing species is known as speciation.

Speciation : it is the process of formation of new species.

Species : A group of similar individuals within a population that can interbreed and produce
fertile offspring.

Factors which lead to speciation : Geographical isolation,genetic drifts and variations.

Geneflow : It is exchange of genetic material by interbreeding betweenpopulations of same

species or individuals

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WAYS BY WHICH SPECIATION TAKES PLACE

Speciation takes place when variation is combined with geographical isolation.

Gene flow :occurs between population that are partly but not completely separated.

GENETIC DRIFT

It is the random change in the frequency of alleles (gene pair) in a population over successive
generations.

*Natural Selection : The process by which nature selects and consolidate those organisms
which are more suitably adapted and possesses favorable variations

Results in Accumulation of different variations in

Sub population and

Genetic drift

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Genetic drift takes place due to :
(a) Severe changes in the DNA
(b) Change in number of chromosomes

Evolution and Classification

EVOLUTION : the process by which different kinds of living organism are believed to have
developed from earlier forms during the history of the earth

Both evolution and classification are interlinked.

1. Classification of species is reflection of their evolutionary relationship.

2. The more characteristic two species have in common the more closely they are related.
3. The more closely they are related, the more recently they have a common ancestor.
4. Similarities among organisms allow us to group them together and to study their
characteristic.

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TRACING EVOLUTIONARY RELA TIONSHIPS : Jean Baptiste Lamarck gave the first
theory of evolution. The accepted one is The Origin of Species by Charles Darwin.

(Evidences of Evolution)

I. Homologous Organs : (Morphological and anatomical evidences. These are the organs that
have same basic structural plan and origin but different functions.

Homologous organs provides evidence for evolution by telling us that they are derived from
the same ancestor.

Example :

Forelimb of Horse (Running)

Same basic structural plan,
Winds of bat (flying) but different functions
perform.
Paw of a cat (walk/scratch/attack)

II. Analogous Organs : These are the organs that have different origin and structural plan
but same function example :

Example : Analogous organs provide mechanism for evolution.

Elongated fingers with skin

Wings of bat
folds Different basic structure, but
perform similar function i.e.,

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 Wings of bird Feathery covering along the flight.
arm

III. Fossils : (Paleontological evidences)

The remains and relics of dead organisms of the past.

FOSSILS ARE PRESERVED TRACES OF LIVING ORGANISMS

Fossil Archaeopteryx possess features of reptiles as well as birds. This suggests that birds
have evolved from reptiles.

Examples of Fossils

AMMONITE - Fossil-invertebrate

TRILOBITE - Fossil-invertebrate

KNIGHTIA - Fossil-fish

RAJASAURUS - Fossil dinosaur skull

AGE OF THE FOSSILS

Evolution by Stages

Evolution takes place in stages ie bit by bit over generations.

I. Fitness Advantage

Evolution of Eyes : Evolution of complex organs is not sudden it occursdue to minor changes
in DNA, however takes place bit by bit over generations.

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 Insects have compound eyes

Humans have binocular eyes

II. Functional Advantage

Evolutions of Feathers

Feathers {/tex} \to {/tex} provide insulation in cold weather but later they mightbecome
useful for flight.
Example : Dinosaurs had feathers, but could not fly using feathers. Birds seem to have later
adapted the feathers to flight.

Evolution by Artificial Selection : Humans have been a powerful agent in modifying wild
species to suit their own requirement through out ages by using artificial selection. e.g. (i)
From wild cabbage many varieties like broccoli, cauliflower, red cabbage, kale, cabbage and

kohlrabi were obtained by artificial selection. (ii) Wheat (many varieties obtained due to
artificial selection).

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Molecular Phylogeny

It is based on the idea that changes in DNA during reproduction are the basic events
in evolution
Organisms which are more distantly related will accumulate greater differences in
their DNA

Tools to Study Human Evolutionary Relationship

Excavating
Time dating
Fossils
Determining
DNA Sequences

Although there is great diversity of human forms all over the world getall humansare
asinglespecies

GENETIC FOOTPRINTS OF HUMANS

Hundreds/thousand of years ago

They did not go in a single line

They went forward and backward
Moved in and out of Africa

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 Sometimes came back to mix with each other.

What you have learnt

Variations arising during the process of reproduction can be inherited.

These variations may lead to increased survival of the individuals.
Sexually reproducing individuals have two copies of genes for the same trait. If the
copies are not identical, the trait that gets expressed is called the dominant trait and
the other is called the recessive trait.
Traits in one individual may be inherited separately, giving rise to new combinations
of traits in the offspring of sexual reproduction.
Sex is determined by different factors in various species. In human beings, the sex of
the child depends on whether the paternal chromosome is X (for girls) or Y (for boys).
Variations in the species may confer survival advantages or merely contribute to the
genetic drift.
Changes in the non-reproductive tissues caused by environmental factors are not
inheritable.
Speciation may take place when variation is combined with geographical isolation.
Evolutionary relationships are traced in the classification of organisms.
Tracing common ancestors back in time leads us to the idea that at some point of time,
non-living material must have given rise to life.
Evolution can be worked out by the study of not just living species, but also fossils.
Complex organs may have evolved because of the survival advantage of even the
intermediate stages.
Organs or features may be adapted to new functions during the course of evolution.

For example, feathers are thought to have been initially evolved for warmth and later
adapted for flight.

Evolution cannot be said to ‘progress’ from ‘lower’ forms to ‘higher’ forms. Rather,
evolution seems to have given rise to more complex body designs even while the
simpler body designs continue to flourish.
Study of the evolution of human beings indicates that all of us belong to a single
species that evolved in Africa and spread across the world in stages.

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