DEVELOPMENT AND INHERITANCE  Following fertilization, the zygote and its

 Fertilization - union of a sperm nucleus, of associated membranes, together referred to

paternal origin, with an egg nucleus, of as the conceptus, continue to be projected
maternal origin, to form the primary nucleus toward the uterus by peristalsis and beating
of an embryo. cilia. During its journey to the uterus, the
 In all organisms the essence of fertilization is, zygote undergoes five or six rapid mitotic cell
in fact, the fusion of divisions. Although each cleavage results in
the hereditary material of two more cells, it does not increase the total
different sex cells, or gametes, each of volume of the conceptus.
which carries half the number IMPLANTATION
of chromosomes typical of the species.  At the end of the first week, the blastocyst
 The first significant event in fertilization is encounters the uterine wall and adheres to
the fusion of the membranes of the two it, embedding itself in the uterine lining via
gametes, resulting in the formation of a the trophoblast cells. Thus begins the
channel that allows the passage of material process of implantation, which signals the
from one cell to the other. end of the pre-embryonic stage of
 Fusion in advanced animals is usually development.
followed by penetration of the egg by a  When implantation succeeds and the
single spermatozoon. The result of blastocyst adheres to the endometrium, the
fertilization is a cell (zygote) capable of superficial cells of the trophoblast fuse with
undergoing cell division to form a new each other, forming the syncytiotrophoblast,
individual. a multinucleated body that digests
 The fusion of two gametes initiates several endometrial cells to firmly secure the
reactions in the egg. One of these causes a blastocyst to the uterine wall. In response,
change in the egg membrane(s), so that the the uterine mucosa rebuilds itself and
attachment of and penetration by more than envelops the blastocyst
one spermatozoon cannot occur. DEVELOPMENT OF THE EMBRYO
 The most important result of fertilization is  In most ectopic pregnancies, the embryo
egg activation, which allows the egg to does not complete its journey to the uterus
undergo cell division. Activation, however, and implants in the uterine tube, referred to
does not necessarily require the intervention as a tubal pregnancy. However, there are also
of a spermatozoon; during parthenogenesis, ovarian ectopic pregnancies (in which the
in which fertilization does not occur, egg never left the ovary) and abdominal
activation of an egg may be accomplished ectopic pregnancies (in which an egg was
through the intervention of physical and “lost” to the abdominal cavity during the
chemical agents. transfer from ovary to uterine tube.
 Maturation is the final step in the production  Even if the embryo has successfully found its
of functional eggs (oogenesis) that can way to the uterus, it does not always implant
associate with a spermatozoon and develop a in an optimal location (the fundus or the
reaction that prevents the entry of more than posterior wall of the uterus). Placenta previa
one spermatozoon. In addition, can result if an embryo implants close to the
the cytoplasm of a mature egg can support internal os of the uterus (the internal opening
the changes that lead to fusion of of the cervix). As the fetus grows, the
spermatozoal and egg nuclei and initiate placenta can partially or completely cover the
embryonic development. opening of the cervix.
EMBRYONIC DEVELOPMENT EMBRYONIC MEMBRANES
 Embryogenesis - is the development of  During the second week of development, with
an animal or plant embryo. Embryonic the embryo implanted in the uterus, cells
development starts with the fertilization of within the blastocyst start to organize into
an egg cell (ovum) by a sperm cell, layers. Some grow to form the extra-
(spermatozoon). Once fertilized, the ovum embryonic membranes needed to support
becomes a single diploid cell known as and protect the growing embryo: the amnion,
a zygote. the yolk sac, the allantois, and the chorion.
 The zygote undergoes mitotic divisions with ORGANOGENESIS
no significant growth (a process known  At some point after the different germ layers
as cleavage) and cellular differentiation, are defined, organogenesis begins. The first
leading to development of a multicellular stage in vertebrates is called neurulation,
embryo. after passing through an where the neural plate folds forming the
organizational checkpoint during mid- neural tube. Other common organs or
embryogenesis. In mammals, the term refers structures that arise currently include
chiefly to the early stages of prenatal the heart and somites.
development, whereas the FETAL DEVELOPMENT
terms fetus and fetal development describe  The very moment a male sperm cell
later stages. penetrates a female egg cell, a new human
PRE-IMPLANTATION EMBRYONIC life comes into being. This event, known as
DEVELOPMENT
 fertilization, forms a tiny, single-celled human releasing cortisol and norepinephrine into the
distinct from his or her mother. blood in response to pain. This is also when
 This little life is called a zygote, meaning she’ll begin to explore more voluntary muscle
“yoked or joined together.” It's the living movements, and eyebrows, eyelashes and
seed that will be a newborn baby in nine fine hair appear.
months’ time. Week 20-22 - Baby begins to respond to
Days 4-12 - Embryo implants in mother's sound
uterus  The ability to hear will develop fully in these
 By day four the zygote has left the fallopian weeks, and the fetus will be able to respond
tube and entered the uterus, where it can to sound.
benefit from the nutrients its mother will Week 23 - Baby can learn and remember
provide.  Several studies suggest that a baby can
 At this time the placenta - a mix of tissue begin to learn and remember her experiences
from both mom and embryo - will form. The by this point.
placenta allows oxygen, nutrients, and water Week 24-27 - Eyes open, can smell
from the mother’s blood to feed the embryo,  The baby’s eyelids have been sealed shut
and waste like CO2 removed, without since week 9 as her eyes developed, but now
intermixing the blood’s genetic material. they’re mature enough to reopen. She will
Week 3 - heart begins to beat at day 21 react with a startled blink and increased
 Now that the zygote is safely within the heart rate if she hears a loud sound.
uterine lining, forming the circulatory system Third Trimester
tops the to-do list. Only 10 days after  Able to hear before birth, the fetus becomes
implantation a heart will begin to beat, at highly familiar with the sound of his mother’s
about day 21 or 22 after fertilization (or 5 voice. So much so that the newborn baby,
weeks since last menstrual period). studies demonstrate, prefers her voice to
Week 4-5 - respiratory system develops others. The newborn also prefers “female
 The respiratory system is next in line: two voices to male voices and familiar lullabies
lung buds will emerge before the end of the heard before birth to new lullabies after
fifth week after fertilization (7th week LMP). birth.”
 A transparent sac called the amnion begins Birthday
to envelop the embryo at about the same  Birth comes, on average, 268 days, or 38
time. The amniotic fluid within will shield her weeks and 2 days, after fertilization and is
from blows and infection, provide initiated by the baby. At birth, the placenta’s
temperature control, and assist muscle and role in the supply of oxygen is suddenly
lung growth. replaced by air breathing and, often, a loud
Week 6-7 - brain waves become cry.
detectable Maternal Changes During Pregnancy,
 Although too little to be felt by mom yet, Labor and Birth
she's already testing out her limbs, and  A full-term pregnancy lasts approximately
reacts to touch. Brain waves are detectable 270 days (approximately 38.5 weeks) from
at this stage, and finer shapes like the ears conception to birth. Because it is easier to
are already emerging. remember the first day of the last menstrual
Week 8 - digestive system functional period (LMP) than to estimate the date of
 At 8 weeks, the digestive system is conception, obstetricians set the due date as
functioning, and the brain makes up almost 284 days (approximately 40.5 weeks) from the
half the embryo’s total weight. The face is LMP.
developed enough now that the baby can Effects of Hormones
squint and move her jaw, and hair has begun  Progesterone secreted by the corpus luteum
to grow. stimulates the production of decidual cells of
Week 9-10 - baby develops fingernails and the endometrium that nourish the blastocyst
toenails before placentation. As the placenta develops
 At this point, she can grasp, sigh and stretch, and the corpus luteum degenerates during
and feel light touch through nerves in the weeks 12–17, the placenta gradually takes
face, palms and feet. She has formed over as the endocrine organ of pregnancy.
distinct fingers and toes and may  The placenta converts weak androgens
occasionally have the hiccups. secreted by the maternal and fetal adrenal
 At 10 weeks fingernails and toenails, as well glands to estrogens, which are necessary for
as fingerprints, begin to form. The embryo is pregnancy to progress. Estrogen levels climb
now about 1 1/2 inches long. throughout the pregnancy, increasing 30-fold
Week 11-14 - Baby begins thumb-sucking by childbirth.
 At 14 weeks, the baby’s facial muscles are Relaxin
developed enough for him to use. Thumb-  another hormone secreted by the corpus
sucking may also begin around this time. luteum and then by the placenta, helps
Week 16- 18 - Begins to kick prepare the mother’s body for childbirth. It
 By 16 weeks, the fetus has the same increases the elasticity of the symphysis
response as adults to physical suffering, pubis joint and pelvic ligaments, making room
 for the growing fetus and allowing expansion Circulatory System Changes
of the pelvic outlet for childbirth. Relaxin also  Blood volume increases substantially during
helps dilate the cervix during labor. pregnancy, so that by childbirth, it exceeds
 The placenta takes over the synthesis and its preconception volume by 30 percent, or
secretion of progesterone throughout approximately 1–2 liters. The greater blood
pregnancy as the corpus luteum degenerates. volume helps to manage the demands of fetal
Like estrogen, progesterone suppresses FSH nourishment and fetal waste removal. In
and LH. It also inhibits uterine contractions, conjunction with increased blood volume, the
protecting the fetus from preterm birth. This pulse and blood pressure also rise
hormone decreases in late gestation, allowing moderately during pregnancy.
uterine contractions to intensify and Physiology of Labor
eventually progress to true labor.  Childbirth, or parturition, typically occurs
 The anterior pituitary enlarges and ramps up within a week of a woman’s due date, unless
its hormone production during pregnancy, the woman is pregnant with more than one
raising the levels of thyrotropin, prolactin, and fetus, which usually causes her to go into
adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH). labor early. As a pregnancy progresses into
 Thyrotropin, in conjunction with placental its final weeks, several physiological changes
hormones, increases the production of occur in response to hormones that trigger
thyroid hormone, which raises the maternal labor.
metabolic rate. This can markedly augment a Patterns of Inheritance
pregnant woman’s appetite and cause hot  The observable traits expressed by an
flashes. organism are referred to as its phenotype. An
 Prolactin stimulates enlargement of the organism’s underlying genetic makeup,
mammary glands in preparation for milk consisting of both physically visible and non-
production. expressed alleles, is called its genotype.
 ACTH stimulates maternal cortisol secretion, Key Terms
which contributes to fetal protein synthesis.  monohybrid: a hybrid between two species
 In addition to the pituitary hormones, that only have a difference of one gene
increased parathyroid levels mobilize calcium  homozygous: of an organism in which both
from maternal bones for fetal use. copies of a given gene have the same allele
Weight Gain  heterozygous: of an organism which has two
 The second and third trimesters of pregnancy different alleles of a given gene
are associated with dramatic changes in  Punnett square: a graphical representation
maternal anatomy and physiology. The most used to determine the probability of an
obvious anatomical sign of pregnancy is the offspring expressing a particular genotype
dramatic enlargement of the abdominal Mendelian crosses: In one of his
region, coupled with maternal weight gain. experiments on inheritance patterns, Mendel
This weight results from the growing fetus as crossed plants that were true-breeding for
well as the enlarged uterus, amniotic fluid, violet flower color with plants true-breeding
and placenta. for white flower color (the P generation). The
Changes in Organ Systems During resulting hybrids in the F1 generation all had
Pregnancy violet flowers. In the F2 generation,
 Nausea and vomiting, sometimes triggered by approximately three-quarters of the plants
an increased sensitivity to odors, are had violet flowers, and one-quarter had white
common during the first few weeks to flowers.
months of pregnancy. The source of The Punnett Square Approach for a
pregnancy nausea is thought to be the Monohybrid Cross
increased circulation of pregnancy-related  A Punnett square applies the rules of
hormones, specifically circulating estrogen, probability to predict the possible outcomes
progesterone, and hCG. of a monohybrid cross and their expected
 A common gastrointestinal complaint during frequencies.
the later stages of pregnancy is gastric reflux,  When fertilization occurs between two true-
or heartburn, which results from the upward, breeding parents that differ in only one
constrictive pressure of the growing uterus characteristic, the process is called a
on the stomach. The same decreased monohybrid cross, and the resulting offspring
peristalsis that may contribute to nausea in are monohybrids. Mendel performed seven
early pregnancy is also thought to be monohybrid crosses involving contrasting
responsible for pregnancy-related traits for each characteristic.
constipation as pregnancy progresses. Example of a test cross: A test cross can be
 The downward pressure of the uterus also performed to determine whether an organism
compresses the urinary bladder, leading to expressing a dominant trait is a homozygote
frequent urination. The problem is or a heterozygote.
exacerbated by increased urine production. In Alternatives to Dominance and
addition, the maternal urinary system Recessiveness
processes both maternal and fetal wastes,  With the inclusion of incomplete dominance,
further increasing the total volume of urine. codominance, multiple alleles, and mutant
 alleles, the inheritance of traits is complex  Most sex-linked traits are X-linked, such as
process. eye color in Drosophila or color blindness in
Key Terms humans.
 allele: one of several alternative forms of the Human male karyotype: A human male
same gene occupying a given position on a possesses XY chromosomes, as seen in the
chromosome bottom left of this karyotype. The Y
 incomplete dominance: a condition in which chromosome is much shorter than the X
the phenotype of the heterozygous genotype chromosome, unlike all the other homologous
is distinct from and often intermediate to the chromosome pairs.
phenotypes of the homozygous genotypes X-Linked Traits
 codominance: a condition in which both  Drosophila males have an XY chromosome
alleles of a gene pair in a heterozygote are pair and females are XX. Eye color
fully expressed, with neither one being in Drosophila was one of the first X-linked
dominant nor recessive to the other traits to be identified, and Thomas Hunt
 Incomplete dominance is the expression of Morgan mapped this trait to the X
two contrasting alleles such that the chromosome in 1910.
individual displays an intermediate phenotype. X-Linked Crosses
 Codominance is a variation on incomplete  In an X-linked cross, the genotypes of F1 and
dominance in which both alleles for the same F2 offspring depend on whether the recessive
characteristic are simultaneously expressed trait was expressed by the male or the
in the heterozygote. female in the P1 generation.
 Diploid organisms can only have two alleles Regarding Drosophila eye color, when the
for a given gene; however, multiple alleles P1 male expresses the white-eye phenotype
may exist at the population level such that and the female is homozygous red-eyed, all
many combinations of two alleles are members of the F1 generation exhibit red
observed. eyes. The F1 females are heterozygous
 One mutant allele can also be dominant over (XWXw), and the males are all XWY, having
all other phenotypes, including the wild type. received their X chromosome from the
 The complete dominance of a wild-type homozygous dominant P1 female and their Y
phenotype over all other mutants often chromosome from the P1 male.
occurs as an effect of “dosage” of a specific Punnett square analysis of Drosophila eye
gene product: the wild-type allele supplies color: Punnett square analysis is used to
the correct amount of gene product whereas determine the ratio of offspring from a cross
the mutant alleles cannot. between a red-eyed male fruit fly (XWY) and
Example of multiple alleles for rabbit coat a white-eyed female fruit fly (XwXw).
color: Four different alleles exist for the Recessive Carriers
rabbit coat color (C) gene.  When they inherit one recessive X-linked
Sex-Linked Traits mutant allele and one dominant X-linked
 A gene present on one of the sex wild-type allele, they are carriers of the trait
chromosomes (X or Y in mammals) is a sex- and are typically unaffected. Carrier females
linked trait because its expression depends can manifest mild forms of the trait due to
on the sex of the individual. the inactivation of the dominant allele located
Key Terms on one of the X chromosomes.
 hemizygous: Having some single copies of  Inheritance of a recessive X-linked disorder:
genes in an otherwise diploid cell or organism. The son of a woman who is a carrier of a
 X-linked: Associated with the X chromosome. recessive X-linked disorder will have a 50
carrier: A person or animal that transmits a percent chance of being affected. A daughter

will not be affected, but she will have a 50
disease to others without itself contracting
percent chance of being a carrier like her
the disease.
mother.
 sex chromosomes: A chromosome involved
Role of Nutrition
with determining the sex of an organism,
 Key Nutrients Involved in Development and
typically one of two kinds.
Inheritance
 In mammals, females have a homologous pair
Proteins: Essential for growth and repair of
of X chromosomes, whereas males have an
tissues and cells. Sources include meat, dairy,
XY chromosome pair.
legumes, and nuts.
 The Y chromosome contains a small region
Carbohydrates: Provide energy necessary
of similarity to the X chromosome so that
for cell functions and growth. Found in grains,
they can pair during meiosis, but the Y is
fruits, and vegetables.
much shorter and contains fewer genes.
Fats (Omega-3 Fatty Acids): Critical for
 Males are said to be hemizygous because brain development and cognitive function.
they have only one allele for any X-linked Found in fish, flaxseeds, and walnuts.
characteristic; males will exhibit the trait of Viitamins:
any gene on the X-chromosome regardless Folic Acid: Vital for cell division and neural
of dominance and recessiveness. tube development during pregnancy.
Vitamin D: Supports bone health and
regulates immune function.
 Vitamin A: Essential for vision, immune
function, and skin health.
Vitamin C: Important for tissue growth and
repair, and immune function.
Vitamin B12: Involved in red blood cell
formation and neurological health.
Minerals
Iron: Necessary for oxygen transport and
energy production; especially important
during pregnancy and adolescence.
Calcium: Vital for bone development and
nerve function
Zinc: Plays a key role in immune function,
protein synthesis, and DNA synthesis.
Iodine: Important for thyroid function and
brain development.
 Nutrition is crucial for the development of an
individual, from prenatal stages through
childhood and adolescence, affecting
physical growth, cognitive function, and
immune health. Furthermore, the nutrients we
consume can influence gene expression
through epigenetic mechanisms, which can
impact inheritance patterns and the potential
for certain health conditions in future
generations. The proper intake of key
nutrients is therefore essential not only for
optimal development but also for influencing
the inheritance of traits and disease risk.