Principles of Genetics

Principles of Genetics is a four-credit course designed for any undergraduate student of all life science programs.The rationale for developing this Course :The logic of science has three essential components, such as observations, facts, and conceptualizations. The main processes of science are induction and deduction by reasoning and hypothesis testing. The father of Genetics, Gregor Mendel, even though applied all these principles by deducing the thumb rule of inheritance, took 35 years of gestation to accept it.Genetics is a fundamental science which deals with the study of genes, characters, and their inheritance. The knowledge of genetics has become essential to unravel the mysteries of life processes that are extensively pursued in today’s science.This course is designed to understand the major concepts and processes of genetics. It provides a foundation for understanding the rule of inheritance and genetics applications for undergraduate natural science students.The Primary Objectives of this course are:- To build knowledge on the fundamentals of genetics, heredity, or inheritance.- To build the foundation on the understanding of biological principles.- To develop the understanding of life processes - survival and maintenance.- To enhance the skill in the applications of the genetic principles in day to day life.- To propagate the science of genetics.The title of UNIT I is Introduction to Genetics and contains 15 hours of teaching portion. a) History of Science of Genetics: Definition and scope of Genetics, Pre-mendelian genetic concepts, Pre-formation, Epigenesis, Pangenesis, Inheritance of acquired characters, Germplasm theory, Heredity and Environment, Genotype and Phenotype, Heredity and Variation, Norms of reaction.b) Mendelism: Biography of Mendel and his experiments with pea plant. Law of segregation: Monohybrid cross, back cross, and test cross, Dominance and Recessive ness, Co-dominance and Incomplete dominance, Genetic problems related.c) Law of Independent Assortment: Dihybrid cross in Pea plant and Drosophila, Back cross and test cross, Genetic problems related.d) Applications of Mendel’s principlesThe title of Unit II is Extension of Mendelism and contains 15 hours of teaching portion.a) Chromosome Theory of Inheritance-Sutton-Boveri work, Inheritance patterns, the phenomenon of Dominance, Inheritance patterns in Human (Sex-linked, Autosomal, Mitochondrial, Unifactorial, and Multi-factorial).b) Allelic Variation & Gene function – Multiple alleles - Definition, Eye color in Drosophila, Blood groups, and Rh factor in Human, Genetic problems related.Gene interactions: Inter allelic- Complementary, Supplementary, Epistasis – Dominant and Recessive, and Non-Epistatic gene interaction.c) Lethal alleles, Penetrance (complete & incomplete), Expressivity, Pleiotropy, and Phenocopy.The title of Unit III is Linkage and Extranuclear inheritance and contains 15 hours of teaching portion.a) Linkage & Crossing over - Chromosome theory of Linkage, kinds of linkage, linkage groups, types of Crossing over, mechanism of Meiotic Crossing over, kinds of Crossing over, theories about the mechanism of Crossing over, Cytological detection of Crossing over, the significance of Crossing over.b) Sex-linked Inheritance in Drosophila and Humans, Inheritance of sex-limited and sex influenced traits.c) Extranuclear inheritance –Organelle heredity (mitochondrial, chloroplast), maternal effect, Infectious heredity in Paramecium.The title of UNIT IV is Sex determination and contains 15 hours of teaching portion. a) Chromosomal theory of sex determination- XX-XY, XX-XO, ZZ-ZW; Genic balance theory of Bridges, Y Chromosome in sex determination in Melandriumb) Environment and sex determination. Hormonal control of sex determination. Gynandromorphs / Intersexes, Super sexes in Drosophila.c) Molecular Basis of Sex determination and dosage compensation in Drosophila and Man.The expected outcomes of the course are as follows:On successful completion of this course, each student will be able to:- Learn a historical overview of genetics and understand how a fully formed concept of genetics was put-forth- Learn the laws of Inheritance in pea plants and other systems- know the information about how genes function and also what happens when they do not work?- Understand the applications of Mendel’s principles- Know the various deviation mechanisms in understanding the laws of inheritance.- Learn the various gene interactions and their outcome.- Learn linkage and crossing over and their role in breeding experiments.- Know the fundamentals of extra-chromosomal inheritance.- Understand the chromosomal theory of inheritance.- Understand the fundamentals of diagnosing genetic diseases.- Know the role of the environment in sex determination and hormonal control of sex determination.- Understand the molecular basis of sex determination and dosage compensation in Drosophila and Man.- Independently investigate genetic problems using literature and analyses of empirical data.- Communicate the principles, theories, problems, and research results associated with questions that lie within the genetics framework to specialists and laymen orally and in writing.