Principles of Genetics

It is a common observation that seeds of mango trees germinate to grow into mango plants, and dogs give birth to puppies only and not into the young ones of any other animal. Humans give birth to human beings. The tendency of offsprings to inherit parental characteristics is termed as ‘heredity’ and the study of science of heredity and the reasons governing the variation between the parents and their offsprings, is called ‘Genetics’. Genetics also seeks to answer questions like why two offspring of same parents look different, why some people have dark, and others have fair complexion. In other words, why is there variation among individuals of the same kind. This lesson deals with heredity and the reasons behind the variation among individuals of the same species. It also includes diagnostic techniques to find out the bases for types of sex determination, inheritance of blood groups in humans, hereditary disorders and gives an insight up the human genome as amniocentesis.