Objectives

✓ define the terms: genetics, chromosomes, alleles, gene, homozygous, heterozygous,

dominant, recessive, complete dominance and co-dominance
✓ identify chromosomes, alleles and genes in a cell from a given diagram
✓ describe meiosis and mitosis (specification of stages not required)
✓ distinguish between phenotype and genotype
✓ calculate and predict the results of a simple genetic cross involving 1:1 and 3:1 ratios
✓ explain variation in terms of genetic and environmental factors

⦁ Genetics is the study of the structure, expression and transmission of genetic

information (Martin, Berg & Solomon, 1999).
⦁ It is the study of patterns of heredity (Applin, 1997).

⦁ A is a section of DNA which contains the genetic code for a protein character,
which expresses itself as the phenotype of an organism.
⦁ Each character is controlled by a gene, eg height, skin colour, coat colour, etc.
⦁ Genes are particles which are transmitted unchanged from one generation to the next.

⦁ Alleles are alternative forms of a gene which affect the same characteristic but in
different ways, e.g. tall (T) and short (t) are two alleles of a gene for plant height.
⦁ While a gene controls a character e.g. height, an allele controls a trait of a character,
e.g. tallness or shortness

⦁ A chromosome is a long molecule of DNA arranged on a framework of protein

molecules.
⦁ Genes are contained in chromosomes.

⦁ Chromosomes come in pairs

⦁ Each chromosome in a pair will have one for the gene.
⦁ If the two alleles are the same we say that the individual is for that gene.
For example ' ' or ' '.
⦁ If the alleles are different the individual is . For example ' '
⦁ A is an allele that is expressed in a phenotype whether it is paired with
another dominant or with a recessive allele. A dominant allele is always shown as an
uppercase letter.
⦁ A is an allele that is overshadowed by the dominant allele. Recessive
allele is expressed in a phenotype only when it is paired with another recessive allele.
A recessive allele is denoted by a lower case letter.

⦁ describes the genetic make-up (all of the genes) of an individual. That is

what genes the organism carries.
⦁ describes the outward appearance of an organism. This is the outward
effects of the genes - what you see.

One dominant allele absolutely masks the effects of another allele in a phenotype of an
organism.

⦁ Co-dominance occurs when a heterozygote possessing two co-dominant alleles

displays the phenotypic product of both co-dominant alleles.
⦁ If the gene produce red coat colour in cattle while the gene produce white coat
colour.
⦁ Then the phenotype of heterozygotes will show patches of red and patches of
white.
Mitosis Meiosis
⦁ Duplicative cell division ⦁ Reduction cell division
⦁ Produces two daughter cells ⦁ Produces four daughter cells
⦁ Daughter cells contain 2n (diploid) ⦁ Results in n (haploid) chromosomes
chromosomes ⦁ Occurs during formation of gametes
⦁ Occurs in both somatic cells and germ (gametogenesis)
cells
⦁ Monohybrid crosses involve inheritance of a single factor only, e.g. eye colour, flower
colour etc.
⦁ Knowing alleles of the genes that the parents have helps to predict how the offspring
will turn out. This can be very useful when carrying out of plants or
animals.

⦁ A cross is a mating between two individuals

⦁ The occurrence of a cross is abbreviated as an found between two genotypes.

⦁ In any cross, there are the parents, then their offspring, and their offspring, etc.
⦁ The first plants or animals bred together are called the , or

⦁ Their offsprings are called the , or The offspring of

the F1 are called the , or And so on.

Worked example 1
Given that a in a breeding system a homozygous tall plant was crossed with a homozygous
short plant. What ratio of phenotype was likely to be observed in the offsprings?
 :A of results from crossing heterozygotes
Punnett square
This is a diagrammatic method of indicating the possible offspring produced from a
particular cross.

⦁ When a homozygous recessive individual is crossed with a heterozygous individual a

phenotypic ratio 1:1 is obtained.
Worked example 2: using a punnett square
In gerbils, agouti (light brown) coat colour is dominant to black coat colour. If a gerbil,
which is heterozygous for agouti coat-colour, is crossed with a black-coated mouse, what
will be the possible coat colour of the offspring?

⦁ Call the black coated mouse and the agouti mouse where B stands for the agouti
colour (light brown) and b stands for black coat.
Now fill in the squares.
 ⦁ The result would be 50% agouti and 50% black coated gerbils, phenotype ratio is
⦁ This cross can be used to determine the genotype of an organism with a dominant
phenotype, but an unknown genotype.
⦁ If crosses of that individual with a known homozygous recessive individual result in a
recessive offspring, the individual is heterozygous for the character (phenotype ratio
1:1.but if all offspring show dominant phenotype, then individual in question probably
is homozygous for the character.
⦁ Hence, this is known as a

⦁ refers to an observable difference in characters between organisms of the

same species.
⦁ An organism’s phenotype is a function of its genetic and environmental factors.

are inherited or natural factors in an organism

⦁ Inherited genes – the phenotype of off-springs may depend on what genes they
inherited from their parents
⦁ Random (independent) assortment of genes result in different gene arrangement
between related organisms
⦁ Mutation – sudden changes in the gene make up of organisms lead to differences in
their phenotype.
⦁ Gene cross-over – a process in which genetic material is exchanged between
homologous (non-sister) chromatids. It may happen during meiosis. This produces new
combinations of genes leading to variation between sexually produced offsprings.
⦁ Epistasis – a gene interaction in which the presence of certain alleles of one locus
influence the expression of alleles of a second locus (though not necessarily more than
one character). This inter-locus interacting is termed epistasis. Example: Mouse coat
color
⚪ B = black coat color (dominant)
⚪ b = brown coat color (recessive)
⚪ C = coat is colored (dominant)
⚪ c = coat displays no color (recessive)
The expression of coat colour depends on the presence of the dominant allele C in
the other locus. In case of a homozygote, a white coloured albino mouse (neither black
nor brown) will be produced because allele which codes for coloured mouse will be
absent.

are conditions around the organisms as it grows

⦁ Nutrition – unlike a malnourished organism, a well fed organism may reach its full
genetic growth potential
⦁ Pests/parasites and diseases – these factors reduce the quality of organisms
⦁ Climate – climatic factors such temperature, wind, rainfall may alter characters of an
organism such as weight, height, colour and behavior
⦁ Pollutants – this can also cause genetic variation
At the end of this chapter you should be able to do the following:
✓ define breeding
✓ explain the importance of breeding
✓ describe cross-breeding, inbreeding, selection and upgrading
✓ state the advantages and disadvantages of each
✓ describe hybridization in plants and animals

Breeding refers to the production of animals with desirable characteristics through

controlled mating.

⦁ Improve quality of animal products/meat/eggs/milk

⦁ Improve yield of animal products
⦁ Increase economic benefits to farmer
⦁ Improve resistance/tolerance against disease/parasites
⦁ Improve tolerance/resistance against adverse conditions/heat/cold/frost
⦁ Form new breeds
⦁ Maintain pure breeds
⦁ Perpetuate animal species
⦁ Eliminate undesirable traits

⦁ Selection is the process of choosing animals with desirable characteristics to serve as

parents of the next generation.
⦁ Breeding is normally preceded by selection.
⦁ Selection may be by natural or artificial means.
⦁ Natural selection follows the principle, ‘survival of the fittest’, in which stronger
individuals survive and produce offsprings without human interference.
⦁ Artificial selection is when humans choose animals with desirable characteristics to use
as parents of the future generations.

Select individuals that

⦁ have desired characteristics (good performance)
⦁ possess heritable traits
⦁ are fertile and reproducing regularly
⦁ have traceable record of performance

⦁ It is the mating of closely related individuals, e.g. mother and son, father and daughter.

⦁ It may concentrate desirable characteristics

⦁ Increases homozygosity in a population
⦁ Produces pure breeds
⦁ It often leads to (reduced vigour)
⦁ Increase progeny defects
⦁ Reduce species variability

⦁ It is the mating of unrelated individuals of two or more breeds (or varieties), for
example Tswana cow and Tuli bull.
⦁ The offspring produced by cross breeding is called a

⦁ It produces , the ability to perform better than the parents. Frequently

practiced in agriculture, to make stronger, healthier organisms with desirable
characteristics.
⦁ Produces new genes (genetic variation), which improves fitness of a species.
⦁ It can combine disease resistance of one organism with the production capacity of
another
⦁ It increases genetic diversity and breeding for specific traits.
⦁ It allows animals to adapt to changing environments, and if the hybrids thrive, a new
species may emerge.
⦁ It may hide undesirable traits, especially those controlled by recessive alleles. It is used
to create new breeds or to make a breed stronger or to try to breed out unwanted traits.

⦁ Hybrids do not breed true to type

⦁ Requires skill and knowledge to practice successfully
⦁ It is expensive

⦁ This is a form of cross breeding which involves crossing of an inferior breed with pure
bred males of a superior breed generation after generation.
⦁ The offspring produced by up grading is a hygrade
Illustration of upgrading a Tswana breed with a Tuli breed
⦁ Hybridization refers to the production of hybrids by mating where parents belong to
different breeds, species or subspecies.
⦁ is the most common type of hybridization.
⦁ Hybridized organisms tend to be high yielding, hardy, more resistant to disease and
pest infestations and mature much earlier than their parents.

Hybridisation in animals involves the following:

⦁ Selecting breeds with desirable genes
⦁ Inbreeding to purify (bring out genetic defects) the breed producing strains.
⦁ Selecting the inbred lines
⦁ Cross breeding the selected inbred lines to produce hybrids.
Hybridisation in plants involves the following:
⦁ Selecting plants/varieties that possess the desirable traits
⦁ Self-pollinating the varieties to form pure lines
⦁ Selecting the inbred pure lines/ purified varieties (homozygous)
⦁ Preventing self-pollination of the selected inbred lines through any of the following
ways:
⚪ emasculation – removing male flowers or parts of flowers on female inbred line
before they develop
⚪ using species in which males are sterile
⚪ using species which exhibit dichogamy (male and female flowers maturing at
different times)
⦁ Once self-pollination is prevented, cross pollination is encouraged
⦁ The seed that form on the female plant will be hybrids.
At the end of this section you should be able to do the following:
✓ define biotechnology and genetic engineering
✓ list at least FIVE (5) examples of Biotechnology
✓ describe one example of Biotechnology as it applies to Agriculture.
✓ state advantages and disadvantages of the use of Biotechnology in Agriculture

⦁ It is the use of organisms or biological processes to provide food and services to meet
the needs of humans.

Traditional biotechnology Modern biotechnology

⦁ uses the entire culture of an organism to ⦁ uses gene manipulation to engineer
form a product organism
⦁ lack efficacy and accuracy, ⦁ high efficiency and accuracy
⦁ Examples of traditional biotechnology ⦁ Examples of these techniques include:
techniques include selective breeding, recombinant DNA techniques (rDNA or
hybridization and fermentation. These genetic engineering), tissue culture and
techniques involved the use of the entire mutagenesis.
organism to produce new products.

⦁ It is the changing of the gene make up of an organism by introducing a new DNA into
its chromosome.
⦁ Its applications include production of genetically modified organisms, vaccines,
hormones and drugs.
⦁ It increases food production by creating crops that can grow in areas where crops could
not grow.****
⦁ crops can be genetically modified to be poisonous (resistant) to pests
⦁ Organisms can be genetically modified to improve disease resistance
⦁ Improves resistance against adverse climatic conditions (abiotic stress resistance)
⦁ Creates new useful organisms/products
⦁ Creates a way of delaying ripening of some crops which facilitates distant selling
⦁ provides new means to create higher-quality and healthier products ***
⦁ crops modified to be herbicide tolerant which enables a wide range of weeds to be
controlled efficiently
⦁ enables modification of crops to contain supplemental nutrients which improves
nutritional value

⦁ By mixing genes from different organisms new toxins maybe be created

⦁ Production of genetically engineered organisms may disturb the natural ecosystem.
⦁ Increased pollution of food and water supplies may occur when plants resistant to
chemicals transfer their resistance to insects and diseases
⦁ It may transfer new proteins into foods, causing allergic reactions in humans or
livestock.

Sour milk Fermentation of milk caused by different culture of

microbes. Microbes produce sour milk of different
taste
Artificial insemination Semen of a good quality bull is introduced into
selected cows to produce calves of desired traits. This
leads to animal improvement
Silage making Involves preserving fodder by fermentation.
Microbial protein synthesis and made available to
animals when microbes die. This enhances nutritive
value of fodder
Genetically modified Involves altering the genes of an organism to produce
organisms an organism of desirable traits. These traits could be
high yield, resistance to pests/ parasites/ diseases/
drought
Alteration of the rumen flora Microbes are introduced into the rumen to improve
digestion of cellulose. This enhances efficiency of the
digestive system which reduces wastage ingested
feed.
Cloning/tissue culture Production of individuals with identical genetic
material. This retains desirable traits and maintains
consistent production.
Yoghurt production Milk is subjected to bacterial culture. Different
bacteria produce yoghurt of varied taste.
Cheese making Milk is fermented by microbes. This takes longer
time than sour milk.
Brewing beer Sorghum or maize is fermented by microbes. After an
extended period of time brews of different tastes are
produced depending of the temperatures
Embryo transfer Fertilised eggs (embryos) are transferred to other
cows for development. More offsprings of desirable
traits produced per year.
Plant grafting /budding This involves joining different plants of the same
species to form a new plant. The united plants
complement each other in production which results in
higher yield.
1. What name is given to a structure in a cell nucleus that contains hereditary characters?

A. Allele
B. Chromosome
C. Gene
D. Zygote

2. Which pair of alleles represents a pure and dominant genotype?

A.
B.
C.
D.

3. What describes a cell division that produces a daughter cell nucleus with half the
number of chromosome as the parent nucleus?

A. Cloning
B. Meiosis
C. Mitosis
D. Mutation

4. Which statement is true about mitosis?

A. It has two phases of cell division

B. It is a process of reduction cell division
C. It produces cells with fewer chromosomes
D. It produces identical daughter cells

The diagram illustrates a breeding method. Use it to answer question and question .
5. Which breeding method is illustrated by the diagram?

A. Crossbreeding
B. Inbreeding
C. Selection
D. Upgrading

6. What would be the effect of mating the with the

instead ?

A. Increased breeding expenses

B. Increased hybrid vigour
C. Reduced breeding expenses
D. Reduced hybrid vigour
7.
8.
9. What explains genetic variation among the offsprings of identical purebred parents?

A. coodminance
B. selection
C. mitosis
D. mutation

10. Two varieties had been bred over many years to consistently produce the features
shown.

variety variety
⦁ high yielding ⦁ drought tolerant
⦁ fast growing ⦁ disease resistant

A farmer crossed the two varieties.

 What would be the likely F1 outcome?

A. 1 high yielding and fast growing : 1 drought tolerant and disease resistant
B. 3 fast growing and high yielding : 1 disease resistant and drought tolerant
C. 4 fast growing and high yielding : 0 drought tolerant and disease resistant
D. all high yielding, fast growing, drought tolerant and disease resistant

11. One of the following statements describes biotechnology. Which is it?

A. The use of living things to modify products

B. The science of solving agricultural problems
C. The use of genetically modified organisms
D. The upgrading of animals using exotic breeds

12. What describes the manipulation of genetic material in order to modify an organism for
a specific purpose?

A. Embryo transfer
B. Genetic degeneration
C. Genetic engineering
D. Modern biotechnology

13. Which product shows agricultural application of biotechnology?

1. a) Fig. 5.1 shows an animal cell.

On fig. 5.1 sketch a pair of homologous chromosomes.

[1]

b) Fig. 5.2 shows one of the daughter cells produced after meiosis cell division.

Complete fig 5.2 by showing the contents of the nucleus. [1]

c) In a genetic research Redpoll cows which were red were crossed with Aberdeen Angus
bulls which were black. All the offspring born in the first generation (F1 generation)
were black. 44 females were crossed with bulls of the same generation to get the
second generation, (F2 generation) of 33 black calves and 11 red calves.

i. Give letters representing the genes for Red and Black Parents of F1 generation.
Red parent …………………………, black parents …………………………… [1]
ii. State the reason why all the F1 offspring were black.
……………………………………………………………………………………. [1]
iii. Give the genotypes of the F2 offspring.
……………………………………………………………………………………. [1]
iv. State the phenotypic ratio of the F2 offspring
v. ……………………………………………………………………………………. [1]
vi. Determine the percentage chance of having a red calf in the F2 offspring.
 ………………..…………………………………………………………………… [1]

2. Fig. 5.1 shows two rams.

They are of the same breed and age. They are used to sire lambs for meat.

Suggest two reasons for the differences in the rams in Fig. 7.2.
1…………………………………………………………………………………………….
2 …………………………………………………………………………………………… [2]

3. Fig. 5.2 shows the inheritance of horns in two generations of goats.

Fig. 5.2

a) State whether the presence of horns is dominant or recessive.

……………………………………………………………………………………......... [1]

b) Give a reason for your answer.

………………………………………………………………………………………… [1]
c) Show how breeding two polled goats can result in a horned goat.

[3]

4. In peas height is controlled by a single gene.

The allele for tall, is dominant over the allele for short, .

a) State the genotype of the following plants

Homozygous tall .........................................................................................................
Homozygous short ......................................................................................................
[2]
b) A homozygous tall plant is crossed with a homozygous short plant.

State the phenotype of the offspring from this cross.

.......................................................................................................................................
[1]

5. Explain, giving examples how the following are carried out.

a) Upgrading of livestock
......................................................................................................................................
......................................................................................................................................
......................................................................................................................................
......................................................................................................................................
......................................................................................................................................
[3]
b) Hybridisation in plants
.....................................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................................[3]
c) Give example of biotechnology used in animal production.
.......................................................................................................................................
[1]
d) Describe how a example of biotechnology can be applied in agricultural
production.
......................................................................................................................................
......................................................................................................................................
......................................................................................................................................
......................................................................................................................................
[3]

6. The following is a description of a breeding method:

⦁ A pure breed Tswana cow is mated with a pure Brahman bull.

⦁ Heifers from the first cross are mated with another pure Brahman bull
⦁ Heifers from this cross and successive generations are mated with different pure
Brahman bulls.

a) Name this method of breeding.

.................................................................................................................................... [1]
b) Explain why different pure Brahman bulls are used in successive generations.
.................................................................................................................................... [1]

c) After seven successive crosses the offspring produced had identical phenotype as the
pure Brahman bulls.

Suggest reason for this.

.....................................................................................................................................
[1]
1. a) State the meaning of biotechnology [1]
b) State the advantages and disadvantages of biotechnology [6]
c) Explain how modern biotechnology improves the production of crops [3]

2. Discuss with examples how genetic and environmental factors cause variation in
offspring of the same parents. [10]

3. Discuss animal breeding under the following headings:

a) Meaning of breeding [1]
b) Importance of breeding [2]
c) Disadvantages of inbreeding [2]
d) Describe hybridisation animals [5]