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Pedigree Analysis

Pedigree Analysis

Probability Laws

Probability Laws

Law of Segregation

Law 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.

Dihybrid Crosses

Dihybrid Crosses

Incomplete Dominance

Incomplete 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.

Epistasis

Epistasis

In addition to multiple alleles at the same locus influencing traits, numerous genes or alleles at different locations may interact and influence phenotypes in a phenomenon called epistasis. For example, rabbit fur can be black or brown depending on whether the animal is homozygous dominant or heterozygous at a TYRP1 locus. However, if the rabbit is also homozygous recessive at a locus on the tyrosinase gene (TYR), it will have an unshaded coat that appears white, regardless of its TYRP1...

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Mar 24, 2026

Stable Isotope In-Vivo Labeling for Mass-Spectrometry Identification of Paternal Metabolites Transferred from Sperm to Oocyte During Fertilization

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Does multiple paternity influence offspring disease resistance?

K E Thonhauser¹, S Raveh^1,2, M Thoß¹

¹Konrad Lorenz Institute of Ethology, Department of Integrative Biology and Evolution, University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, Austria.

Journal of Evolutionary Biology

|March 8, 2016

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Polyandry in house mice (Mus musculus) did not improve offspring resistance to Salmonella Typhimurium infection. However, male mice exhibited greater resistance than females, with infection impacting female health more severely.

Keywords:

Mus musculus bet-hedging genetic diversity multiple paternity pathogen resistance pathogen-mediated sexual selection polyandry salmonella sex differences in immunity

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Area of Science:

Evolutionary biology
Immunology
Animal behavior

Background:

Polyandry, mating with multiple males, is hypothesized to increase offspring genetic diversity.
This diversity may reduce offspring susceptibility to infectious diseases.
The role of polyandry in disease resistance is not well understood in mammals.

Purpose of the Study:

To test if polyandry enhances offspring resistance to Salmonella Typhimurium infection in house mice.
To investigate sex-specific differences in infection resistance and health consequences.

Main Methods:

Experimental infection of offspring from single- and multiple-sired house mouse litters with Salmonella Typhimurium.
Measurement of pathogen loads to assess infection resistance.
Comparison of infection prevalence, resistance, and weight loss between litters and sexes.

Main Results:

No significant difference in Salmonella infection prevalence or resistance was found between single- and multiple-sired litters.
Significant genetic variation in Salmonella resistance was observed among families.
Male mice showed higher resistance to Salmonella infection than females, with greater weight loss in females.

Conclusions:

The study did not support the hypothesis that polyandry confers increased Salmonella resistance in house mouse offspring.
Evidence for sex-dependent resistance to Salmonella infection in house mice was found, with males being more resistant.
Female mice experienced more severe health consequences from infection, indicated by greater weight loss.