Related Concept Videos
00:57Inclusive Fitness
Most altruistic behavior—in which one animal helps another at a cost to themselves—occurs between relatives. Scientists think these altruistic behaviors evolved because they increase the inclusive fitness of the animal providing help.
01:43Incomplete Dominance
Gregor Mendel's work (1822 - 1884) was primarily focused on pea plants. Through his initial experiments, he determined that every gene in a diploid cell has two variants called alleles inherited from each parent. He suggested that amongst these two alleles, one allele is dominant in character and the other recessive. The combination of alleles determines the phenotype of a gene in an organism.
01:25Inheritance
Gregor Mendel's pioneering work on the principles of inheritance fundamentally transformed our understanding of how traits are transmitted from generation to generation. His experiments with pea plants laid the groundwork for the discovery of genes, discrete units within organisms that control heredity.
Each gene exists in pairs, and the combination of these genes from both parents forms an individual's genotype. This genotype is a blueprint of potential traits. Examples of genotype traits...
Each gene exists in pairs, and the combination of these genes from both parents forms an individual's genotype. This genotype is a blueprint of potential traits. Examples of genotype traits...
02:30Genomic Imprinting and Inheritance
Diploid organisms inherit genetic material through chromosomes from both parents. Copies of the same gene are known as alleles. In most cases, both alleles are simultaneously expressed and allow various cellular processes to function optimally. If one of the alleles is missing or mutated, the expression of the other allele can compensate; however, this is not true for all genes.
The expression of some genes depends on which parent passed the gene to the offspring, through a phenomenon known as...
The expression of some genes depends on which parent passed the gene to the offspring, through a phenomenon known as...
01:49Law of Segregation
When crossing pea plants, Mendel noticed that one of the parental traits would sometimes disappear in the first generation of offspring, called the F1 generation, and could reappear in the next generation (F2). He concluded that one of the traits must be dominant over the other, thereby causing masking of one trait in the F1 generation. When he crossed the F1 plants, he found that 75% of the offspring in the F2 generation had the dominant phenotype, while 25% had the recessive phenotype.
01:35Pedigree Analysis
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Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 20, 2026
06:44
Induction and Evaluation of Inbreeding Crosses Using the Ant, Vollenhovia Emeryi
Published on: October 5, 2018
Inbreeding: when parents transmit more than genes.
1Edward Grey Institute, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3PS, UK.
Current Biology : CB
|September 19, 2006
Summary
In wild song sparrows, inbreeding traits are passed from parents to offspring due to population structure. This finding is crucial for understanding how genetic factors influence traits in wild populations.
Area of Science:
- Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
- Population Genetics
Background:
- Inbreeding negatively impacts the fitness of wild populations.
- Genetic factors causing reduced fitness are not typically inherited across generations.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the transmission of inbreeding from parents to offspring in wild song sparrows.
- To understand the role of population structure in this transmission.
- To explore implications for phenotypic variation in wild populations.
Main Methods:
- Utilized population genetic analyses.
- Examined parent-offspring relationships in song sparrows.
- Assessed patterns of inbreeding within the population.
Main Results:
- A significant resemblance for inbreeding was observed between parents and offspring.
- This resemblance is linked to the population's underlying structure.
- Demonstrated that inbreeding's genetic causes can be transmitted across generations in this species.
Conclusions:
- Population structuring can lead to the inheritance of inbreeding from parents to offspring.
- This mechanism has significant implications for the study of genetic influences on phenotypic variation in natural settings.
- Challenges the assumption that genetic causes of inbreeding are not transmitted across generations.