Non-Mendelian Inheritance

Gregor Mendel’s work opened the door for more exploration in the field of genetics and heredity. As more scientists explored how traits were passed on in humans and other organisms, it was discovered that some traits do not follow the dominant/recessive pattern described by Mendel. Some inheritance patterns are linked to the chromosomes that determine the sex of an organism, and some traits are determined by more than one pair of alleles. In some traits, there is no clearly dominant allele, and in other traits both alleles are dominant. In this topic, you will learn about the types of inheritance that are the exception to the inheritance patterns described by Mendel.

Essential Questions

• What are the non-Mendelian inheritance patterns?
• How can inheritance patterns be determined and analyzed?
• Can the environment influence inheritance or expression of traits?