Chromosomal basis of inheritance

Chromosome D/b Hoffmeister and T/b Waldeyer

Chromosomal theory of inheritance was given by Sutton and Boveri
Walter Sutton and Theodore Boveri noted that the behaviour of chromosomes was
parallel to the behaviour of genes and used chromosome movement to explain
Mendels laws

Sutton and Boveri argued that the pairing and separation of a pair of
chromosomes would lead to the segregation of a pair of factors they carried.
Sutton united the knowledge of chromosomal segregation with Mendelian
principles and called it the chromosomal theory of inheritance

Experimental verification of the chromosomal theory of inheritance by Thomas

Hunt Morgan and his colleagues, led to discovering the basis for the variation that
sexual reproduction produced.

Morgan worked with the tiny fruit files, Drosophila melanogaster (Figure 5.10),
which were
found very suitable for such studies.
1. They could be grown on simple synthetic medium [yeast] in the laboratory.
2. They complete their life cycle in about two weeks,
3. and a single mating could produce a large number of progeny flies.
4. Also, there was a clear differentiation of the sexes female large with
ovipositor i.e.the male and female flies are easily distinguisable.
5. Also, it has many types of hereditary variations that can be seen with low
power microscopes

Linkage
 First reported / D/b Bateson and punett ; or Morgan
Term by Morgan (F/o experimental genetics)
Coupling and repulsion hypothesis [1st report of linkage]
It was studied in sweet pea / Lathyrus odoratus [Linkage 1 st observed here]
Found that parental combination of traits was very high as compared with the
parental observed in F2 of dihybrid, so TC was done to find the proportion of
gametes

Coupling
Blue flowers with long pollen Red flower with round pollen
BBLL bbll
F1 : BbLl (BL/bl- Cis heterozygote)
TC is done to find the gamete produced by the F1

Here the parental combination is 87.5 % against expected 50 %

He called it coupling as two dominant trait are tending to stay together 7:1:1:7,
it was due to cis phase linkage
Repulsion
BBll bbLL
F1 is BbLl (Bl/ bL : Trans heterozygote)
In repulsion the two dominant trait does not tend to stay together, in both the
cases the % of parental are more than 50 %
Reason of deviation from the TC ratio,
The gametes with parental combination was produced in more proportion,
because the two genes were in the same chromosome and closer and only 25 %
meiosis showed crossing over between them
When two genes are in different chromosome Parental gametes 50%
When two genes are on same chromosome and far away such that 100 % of
meiosis shows crossing over , then also parental gametes are 50 %

All the four gametes in equal proportion

When two genes are on same chromosome but close and < 100 % of meiosis
show CO, then % of RC formed = of the meiosis showing CO
So since in B & Ps experiment, the RC were 12.5%, in 25 % meiosis CO
occurred
You can explain by taking two meiosis, one with CO and one without, and
show the proportion in a pool of gametes.
Linkage is defined as the tendency of two genes on the same member of HC
chromosome pair, to stay together / inherit together / assort together,
through generations. As in the coupling BL and bl did not want to separate
Linkage increases the frequency of Parentals and reduces non parentals
But CO can separate the linked genes
 Due to linkage ratio deviates from expected 1:1:1:1 [Parental > 50% RC <
50%]and 9:3:3:1 [Parental > 10/16 and RC < 6/16]
Linkage is of two types
(a) Complete linkage: No RC, all parental, no CO. The TC ratio is 1:1 and F2
is 3:1
(b) Incomplete linkage: RC obtained but < 50, Parental > 50, CO occur but
not always
In male drosophila and female silk moth no CO occur due to absence of S.
complex, therefore while calculating the % recombination, the female is taken
as the heterozygous and the male is taken homozygous recessive in TC