Things you need to know for the ‘Inheritance’ topic
Go through the list and tick the areas you are confident with in the first column, less so in
the second column and the things you really don’t understand in the third column. (Things
in italics are for higher students only.)
You can then use this table to identify the areas to revise in preparation for the exam.
When you feel happier, move your tick. The aim is to have a tick in every box in the first
column.
2.7 – Cell division and Inheritance
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
You should know that chromosomes contain genetic information
You should know how chromosomes are arranged in cells
You should know that body cells divide by mitosis
You should know the basic stages in mitosis
You should know the reasons why mitosis is needed
You should know how chromosomes are arranged in the sex cells
(gametes)
You should know where gametes are produced
You should know what type of cell division is used to form gametes
You should be able to describe the basic stages in meiosis
You should know what is formed at fertilisation
You should know what differentiation of cells is
You should know how differentiation differs in plants and animals
You should be able to describe what a stem cell is
You should be able to describe the uses of stem cells
You should able to make informed judgements about the social and ethical
issues concerning the use of stem cells from embryos in medical research
and treatments
You should be able to describe the process of asexual reproduction in terms
of mitosis and describe the features of the daughter cells produced
You should be able to explain why sexual reproduction results in variation
You should be able to describe the differences between male and female
cells in terms of their chromosomes
You should understand the terms ‘gene’ and ‘allele’
You should understand the terms ‘recessive’ and ‘dominant’
You should be able to explain why Mendel proposed the idea of separately
inherited factors and why the importance of this
discovery was not recognised until after his death
You should be able to describe the structure of chromosomes with
reference to DNA
You should understand how genes allow the production of proteins
You should know that each person’s DNA is unique and how this can be
use in DNA fingerprinting
You should be able to interpret genetic diagrams, including family trees
You should be able to predict and explain the outcome of crosses between
individuals for each possible combination
of dominant and recessive alleles of the same gene
You should know that some disorders are inherited
You should be able to describe the condition Polydactyly and explain how
it is passed on
You should be able to describe the condition Cystic fibrosis and explain
how it is passed on
You should be able to construct genetic diagrams of monohybrid crosses
and predict the outcomes of
monohybrid crosses and be able to use the terms homozygous,
heterozygous, phenotype and genotype
You should know what embryo screening is and what it can be used for.
You should be able to make informed judgements about the economic,
social and ethical issues concerning embryo screening.