The term heredity refers to the study of the transmission of the genetic material from parents to their offspring and the laws governing such a transmission. This transmission is carried out by chromosomes which pass on the information from one generation to the next.

Define the following: Gene

Mendel proposed that something was being stably passed down, unchanged, from parent to offspring through the gametes, over successive generations. He called these things as ‘factors’. Now we call them as genes. Genes, therefore, are the units of inheritance. They contain the information that is required to express a particular trait in an organism. Genes which code for a pair of contrasting traits are known as alleles, i.e., they are slightly different forms of the same gene. Some genes act as instructions to make molecules called proteins.

The term heredity refers to the study of the transmission of the genetic material from parents to their offspring and the laws governing such a transmission. This transmission is carried out by chromosomes which pass on the information from one generation to the next.

Enumerate (in any six points) the basis of Darwin theory of natural selection.

English naturalist Charles Darwin developed the idea of natural selection after a five-year voyage to study plants, animals, and fossils in South America and on islands in the Pacific. In 1859 , he brought the idea of natural selection to the attention of the world in his best-selling book, On the Origin of Species . Natural selection was such a powerful idea in explaining the evolution of life that it became established as a scientific theory. In the theory of natural selection, organisms produce more offspring than are able to survive in their environment. Those that are better physically equipped to survive, grow to maturity, and reproduce. Those that are lacking in such fitness, on the other hand, either do not reach an age when they can reproduce or produce fewer offspring than their counterparts. Natural selection is sometimes summed up as 'survival of the fittest' because the 'fittest' organisms—those most suited to their environment—are the ones that reproduce most successfully, and are most likely to pass on their traits to the next generation. Darwin's finches are often thought of as inspiring a 'eureka moment', but it was actually mockingbirds that impacted Darwin's thoughts on evolution.