GRADE: 10 HEREDITY & EVOLUTION

1 In human beings, the statistical probability of getting either a male or a female child is
50:50. Give reasons and explain with the help of diagram.

A child who inherits an X chromosome from his father would be a girl (XX) while the
child who inherits as Y chromosome from the father would be a boy (XY)
2 Explain with the help of diagram how sex of a child is determined at the time of
conception in human beings.
Male has heterozygous chromosomes X, Y. Female has homozygous – X, X. So when X
of male fuses with female gamete X- results is a girl and when Y of male fuses with X
of female it results in male being formed.

3 (a) Name the scientist who worked out the rules of inheritance.
(b) Mention any two strategies that are used by different species for determining sex
of their new born.
(a) Mendel
(b) Some rely on environment cues. In some animals the temperature at which
fertilized egg is kept determines its sex. In snails, individuals can change sex, indicating
that sex is not genetically determined.
4 (a) Differentiate between dominant and recessive traits.
(b) ‘Genes control traits’. Explain this statement with an example.
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 (a) The trait that appears dominant in the progenies when breeds of different traits
are crossed are called dominant traits. The trait which though appears in progenies
but is not so conspicuous is called recessive trait.
(b) Consider tallness as a characteristic. Plant height depends on particular plant
hormone which in turn will depend on the efficiency of the process for making it. If
the enzyme responsible for the production of this hormone is efficient, plant will be
tall. If the gene for that enzyme has an alteration that makes enzyme less efficient, the
amount of hormone will be less and plant will be short.
5 What are the sex Chromosomes?
It is the 23rd pair of chromosome Sex chromosomes – ‘XY’ in male ‘XX’ pair in female.
6 In Mendel’s monohybrid cross between tall and short pea plants, all off springs were
tall. What does this tell us about the trait? What is the ratio of tall and short plants in
the F2 generation?
How is sex determined in human beings? Give an example where sex determination is
regulated by environmental factors.
7 The sex of human individual is genetically determined. Human females have a pair of X
chromosomes while human males have one X and one Y chromosomes in their cells.
Females produce one type of ova whereas males produce two types of sperms – X
type and Y type. When an X type sperm meets with the ovum, a female child is born
and when a Y type sperm meets with an ovum a male child is born. Thus half the
children will be boys and half will be girls. The sex of the children will be determined
by what they inherit from their fathers.
In snail sex is determined by environmental factors (temperature )
The sex of the baby is determined by the father. Justify. Give an example where sex
determination is regulated by environmental factors.
8 The sex of the human individual is genetically determined. Human female have a pair
of X chromosomes while human males have one X and one Y chromosomes in their
cells. Females produce one type of ova whereas males produce two types of sperms –
X type and Y type. When an X type sperm meets with the ovum, a female child is born
and when a Y type sperm meets with an ovum a male child is born. Thus half the
children will be boys and half will be girls. Thus the sex of the children will be
determined by what they inherit from their father. In snails sex is determined by
environmental factors (temperature).
Trace the F1 generation formed by crossing two plants with separate traits for shape
and seed colour- round green (RRyy) and wrinkled yellow(rrYY). Mention the
characteristic exhibited by it.

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9 How is the sex of a new born determined genetically in humans?
Humans have one pair of sex chromosomes along with 22 identical pairs of
chromosomes. Women have a perfect pair of sex chromosomes. Men have one X and
one Y. All the children will inherit X chromosomes from their mother. The child who
inherits the X chromosome from the father will be a girl.
10 With the help of a cross done with garden pea plants, trace the work done by Mendel
with a tall and a short plant to arrive at a 3: 1 ratio in the F2 generation.

11 The genotype of green stemmed tomato plants is denoted by GG and that of purple
stemmed tomato plants as gg. When these two plants are crossed: (a) What colour of
stem would you expect in their F1 progeny? (b) Give the percentage of purple-
stemmed plants if F1 plants are self-pollinated. (c) In what ratio would you find the
green and purple colour in the F2 progeny?
(a) Green colour (b) 25% (c) 3:1
12 “It is a matter of chance whether a couple will give birth to a boy or a girl.” Justify the
statement.
Women have XX sex chromosomes and males have XY sex chromosomes. Females
produces all gametes having X chromosome while male produces two types of
gametes one having X chromosome and another having Y chromosome. The sex of the
offspring will depend on what they inherit from father. Offspring inheriting X
chromosomes from father will be females and those inheriting Y chromosomes will be
males.
13 How do Mendel experiments show that traits may be dominant or recessive?
When Mendel cross pollinated a pure male tall pea plant with pure female dwarf pea
plant, he got only tall plants in F1 generation. When F1 tall plants were self-pollinated,

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 Mendel got both tall and dwarf plants in F2 generation in the ratio 3:1. The trait of
dwarfness was present in F1 generation but was not expressed and only trait of
tallness was expressed. The character which gets expressed in the presence of its
contrasting form is termed dominant trait. The trait which remains unexpressed in the
presence of its contrasting from is termed recessive trait.
14 (a) Name the type of sex chromosome present in (i) human male and (ii) human
female. (b) What will be the sex of the offspring if a sperm carrying X – Chromosome
fertilizes the egg? (c) Why is DNA copying essential?
(a) (i) XY (ii) XX; (b) The sex of the offspring will be female. (c) DNA copying is essential
for the inheritance of traits from parents to the off spring.
15 (a) Define genetics. (b) Who is regarded as the “Father of Genetics”? Name the plant
on which he performed his experiments. (c) Why did he select that specific plant for
his experimental studies?
(a) Genetics is the branch of biology that deals with the study of heredity and
variations. (b) Gregor Johann Mendel Garden pea. (c) Garden pea plants were easily
available/they grow in one season/fertilization was easy. (any two)
16 (a) Name the unit of inheritance. What is its function?
(b) How are inherited traits different from acquired traits? Give example.
(a) Gene. it is the carrier of genetic information from one generation to another. (b)
The traits that are obtained from parents are inherited traits. E.g. Fused and free ear
lobes. The traits that develop during lifetime of an individual are acquired traits E.g.
Muscular body of a wrestler.
17 Show inheritance of two characters over two generations by making a cross between
round and yellow seeded plant (RRYY) with wrinkled and green seeded plant (rryy).

18 “Genetic composition of the father plays a deciding role in determining the gender of
the new-born child.” Comment and support your answer with a suitable illustration.
Father plays a deciding role. Sex chromosomes of males are X and Y while females are
only X. Cross on page – 146 of NCERT – fig- 9.6.

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19 In a cross between plants with purple flowers and plants with white flowers the off
springs of F1 generation all had white flowers. When the F1 generation was self –
crossed, it was observed in the F2 generation that out of 100, 75 flowers were white.
Make a cross and answer the following :- (a) What are the genotypes of the F2
progeny? (b) What is the ratio of White: Purple flowers in the F2 generation?
(a) Monohybrid cross
(b) WW , Ww, ww
(c) 3 : 1
20 Name the organism Mendel used for his experiment. Explain about F1 and F2 progeny
obtained by Mendel when he cross-bred the tall and the short varieties of the
organism he experimented with.
Garden Pea.

21 The genetic trait of green stemmed tomato plants is denoted as GG, that of purple
stemmed tomato plant as gg. When these two are crossed. (a) What colour of stem
would you expect in their F1 progeny? (b) Give the percentage of purple stemmed
plants if F1 plants are self-pollinated. (c) In what ratio would you find the genetic traits
GG and Gg in the F2 progeny?

22 How does Mendel’s experiment show that the traits may be dominant or recessive?
Description of Mendel’s experiment with any visible characteristics of garden peas –
(i) He took tall plant and a short plant produced progeny from them and calculated
percentage of tall or shot progeny. (ii) In F1 progeny all plants were tall i.e. only one of
the parental trait was seen. (iii) In F2, progeny of the F1 tall plants are not all tall.
Instead one quarter of them are short. (iv) Thus both traits – tallness and shortness

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 are inherited in the F1 plants but only one is expressed dominantly and other trait
remains recessive.
23 A husband has 46 chromosomes, his wife has 46 chromosomes. Then why don't their
offspring have 46 pairs of chromosomes, which is obtained by the fusion of male and
female gametes? Support your answer with a neat illustration.
Male individual has 46 chromosomes but because the gametes are always haploid, i.e.
they have half the no. of chromosomes; sperms will be haploid (23 chromosomes)
Female individual also contains only 23 chromosomes in egg. It is the fusion of this
sperm and egg which leads to an offspring with 46 chromosomes.
24 (a) Define Inherited traits. (b) “Inherited traits are capable of directing evolution.”
Justify the statement and support your answer by giving two reasons.
(a) Traits inherited to the next generation. (b) changes occur in genes of germ cells,
since changes occur in genes and hence inherited to the next generation causing
evolution
25 Briefly explain Mendel's findings with respect to:
(a) Dominant and recessive characters.
(b) Independent inheritance of traits.
(a) Dominant characters: Few characters express themselves in the presence of
recessive characters.
Recessive character: Few characters cannot express themselves in the presence of
dominant characters.
In a cross all the recessive and dominant characters are visible. This is law of
segregation.
(b) If the pea plants with following two traits are crossed. Parent with tall and round
seed crossed with dwarf and wrinkled seed.

9 Tall round : 3 Tall wrinkled : 3 short round, 1 short wrinkled. Thus, the tall/short trait
and round/wrinkled seed trait are inherited independently.
26 In the following crosses, write the characteristics of the progeny:

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 (a) 9 - Round and yellow; 3 - Round and green; 3 - Wrinkled and yellow; 1 - Wrinkled
and green.
(b) All are wrinkled and green. (c) All are round and yellow.
27 Mendel studied the inheritance pattern of traits in a pea plant. According to this
study, he obtained 9 : 3 : 3 : 1 ratio for certain traits in progeny of F-2 generations.
Based on it answer these questions: (i) Which trait did he study? How do they
represent themselves? (ii) What was the trait of progeny of F-1? (iii) Which rule does
this inheritance pattern suggest?
(a) Colour of the seed and shape of the seed.

(b) Round and yellow; (c) Law of independent assortment

28 (i) Define variation in context of development of species. (ii) Why is tendency to
variation during reproduction is beneficial for a species? Write any two reasons.
(i) Variation is the difference in the characters or traits among the individuals of the
same species. (ii) Variation is beneficial for a species because: (a) They enable the
organism to adapt themselves in the changing environment. (b) They form the basis of
inheritance. (c) They form the raw materials for the evolution and development of the
new species. (any two)
29 In fruit flies the sex chromosomes in males is XY and in females is XX. (i) Does a male
fly inherit X chromosome from his mother or father? (ii) How many different types of
gametes can a female fly produce? (iii) How many different types of gametes can a
male fly produce?
(i) From mother (ii) X and X (iii) X and Y.
30 Heredity is the branch of science that deals with transmission of characters from one
generation to the other. Name the father of genetics. Name the plant that he worked
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 with to give various laws of inheritance. Do you think he would have succeeded in his
study had he chosen any other plant? Why?
George Mendel; Garden pea. No because the plant that he chose had lots of
contrasting characters and did not show blending of characters or any intermediated
expression in case of heterozygous gene pairs.
31 Distinguish between inherited and acquired characters. Give one example for each
type.
(i) Characters that are passed on from parents to offspring are inherited characters.
For example, colour of seeds, colour of eyes etc.
(ii) Characters appearing in an individual’s life time but cannot be transmitted to next
generation are acquired characters - For example, obese body.
32 Given below is the experiment carried out by Mendel to study inheritance of two
traits in garden pea.

(a) What do A, B, C, D, E, F and G represent in these boxes? (b) State the objective for
which Mendel performed this experiment.
(a) A→ RY ; B – rY ; C – Rr-Yy; D→ 9 ; E→ 3; F 3 : G→ 1.
(b) To study the independent inheritance of two traits in subsequent generation.
33 Mention the function of cellular DNA. Taking tallness as a characteristic for a plant,
explain how proteins control the characteristic.
Cellular DNA is the information source for making proteins in the cell. Plants have
hormone that can trigger growth. The amount of this hormone made depends on the
efficiency of the process for making it. An enzyme is necessary for this process. If this
enzyme works efficiently, a lot of hormone will be made and the plant will be tall.
If the gene for that enzyme has an alteration that makes this enzyme less efficient, the
amount of hormone will be less and plant will be short.

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34 A pea plant with tall plant and violet flowers (TtVV) were crossed to short plant with
white flowers (ttvv). Find out the phenotypes and genotypes of offspring obtained as a
result of this cross.

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