LECTURE

CONNECTIONS

5 | Extensions and Modifications of Basic

Principles
© 2009 W. H. Freeman and Company
 Sex-influenced and sex-limited characteristics

• Sex-influenced characteristics are determined by

autosomal genes and are inherited according to
Mendel’s principles, but they are expressed differently in
males and females.

• The trait has higher penetrance in one of the sexes.

Example: the presence of a beard on some goats is

determined by an autosomal gene Bbthat is dominant in
males and recessive in females.
 Sex-influenced and sex-limited characteristics

• Sex-limited characteristics is encoded by autosomal

genes that are expressed in only one sex.

• The trait has zero penetrance in the other sex.

Example: In domestic chicken, some males display a pattern

called cock feathering; other display a pattern called hen
feathering.

Cock feathering is an autosomal recessive trait that is

sex limited to males.
Genotype Male Female
Phenotype Phenotype
HH

Hh

hh
 Sex-influenced and sex-limited characteristics

• Cytoplasmic inheritance: some characteristics are

encoded by genes located in the cytoplasm.

Example: Chloroplasts and mitochondria.

Mitochondria in humans:15,000 nucleotides that encode

37 genes

• For most organisms, all the cytoplasm is inherited from

the egg.
 Sex-influenced and sex-limited characteristics

• Genetic maternal effect: the phenotype of the offspring

is determined by the genotype of the mother.

• The genes are inherit from both parents but the

offspring’s phenotype is determined not by its own
phenotype but by the genotype of the mother.

• The substances present in the cytoplasm of an egg are

pivotal in early development.

Example: shell coiling of the snail Limnaea peregra.

 Sex-influenced and sex-limited characteristics

• Genomic imprinting: differential expression of genetic

material depending on whether it is inherited from the
male or female parent.

• Epigenetics: phenomena due to alterations to DNA that

do not include changes in the base sequence; often
affects the way in which the DNA sequences are
expressed (DNA methylation).
 5.7 Anticipation Is the Stronger or Earlier
Expression of Traits in Succeeding Generations

• Anticipation: A genetic trait becomes more strongly

expressed or is expressed at an earlier stage as it is
passed from generation to generation.

Example: The mutation causing myotonic dystrophy consists

of an unstable region of DNA that can increase or decrease in
size as the gene is passed from generation to generation.
 5.8 The Expression of a Genotype May Be
Influenced by Environmental Effects

• Temperature-sensitive allele: an allele whose product

is functional only at a certain temperature
In rabbits, the Himalayan allele is temperature dependent.