Genetics and Heredity

1. Heredity
   1. Basic Concepts
      1. Inheritance Patterns
         1. Dominant and Recessive Traits
            1. Definition of dominant and recessive alleles
            2. Examples of dominant and recessive traits in humans
         2. Codominance
            1. Instances where both alleles in a heterozygote are fully expressed
            2. Example: Blood type AB
         3. Incomplete Dominance
            1. Intermediate phenotype in heterozygotes
            2. Example: Flower color in snapdragons
      2. Phenotype vs. Genotype
         1. Definition and differentiation between phenotype and genotype
         2. Examples of how genotype influences phenotype
         3. Environmental impact on phenotype
         4. Concepts of homozygous and heterozygous
   2. Mendelian Inheritance
      1. Mendel’s Laws of Inheritance
         1. Law of Segregation
            1. Explanation of segregation of allele pairs in gametes
            2. Historical experiments by Mendel
         2. Law of Independent Assortment
            1. Concept of independent assortment of genes on different chromosomes
            2. Mendelian experiments demonstrating this law
      2. Monohybrid and Dihybrid Crosses
         1. Definition and setup of monohybrid crosses
         2. Calculation of phenotypic and genotypic ratios
         3. Extension to dihybrid crosses
         4. Understanding of 9:3:3:1 ratio in dihybrid crosses
      3. Punnett Squares
         1. Methodology for predicting offspring genotypes
         2. Practice examples for both monohybrid and dihybrid crosses
         3. Common misconceptions and mistakes
   3. Non-Mendelian Inheritance
      1. Multiple Alleles
         1. Examples of systems with more than two alleles (e.g., ABO blood type)
         2. Polymorphism and allele frequency in populations
      2. Polygenic Inheritance
         1. Traits influenced by multiple genes
         2. Human examples such as height and skin color
         3. The role of environmental factors in polygenic traits
      3. Epistasis
         1. Interaction between genes where one masks the effect of another
         2. Examples and explanation of epistatic interactions
      4. Pleiotropy
         1. Single gene influencing multiple phenotypic traits
         2. Examples such as Marfan syndrome
      5. Mitochondrial Inheritance
         1. Maternal inheritance of mitochondrial DNA
         2. Role and function of mitochondrial genes
         3. Diseases linked to mitochondrial inheritance
   4. Environmental and External Influence on Heredity
      1. Influence of environmental factors on gene expression
      2. Examples of gene-environment interactions
         1. Phenotypic plasticity
         2. Temperature-dependent gene expression in plants and animals
      3. Social and lifestyle factors affecting hereditary traits
         1. Impact of diet and exercise
         2. Psychological influences on hereditary disorders
   5. Heredity in Complex Traits and Diseases
      1. Complex disease inheritance patterns
         1. Concepts of genetic predisposition
         2. Multifactorial inheritance and role of genetic variation
      2. The role of heredity in common complex diseases
         1. Heart disease, diabetes, and cancer
         2. Genetic markers and linkage analysis
   6. Modern Concepts in Heredity
      1. Advances in understanding heritability
         1. Contribution of heritability studies to personalized medicine
      2. The role of non-coding DNA in heredity
         1. Regulatory elements, enhancers, and silencers
      3. Genetic imprinting
         1. Parent-of-origin specific gene expression
         2. Disorders associated with imprinting flaws (e.g., Prader-Willi syndrome)