 Gregor Mendel - The Father of Genetics 2.

Mendel’s law of dominance

 GENETICS – study of heredity
 If your two alleles are different (heterozygous,
 HEREDITY – the passing of traits from parents to
e.g. Bb), the trait associated with only one of
offspring
these will be visible (dominant) while the other
 Mendel did his study on pea plants
will be hidden (recessive). E.g. B is dominant, b is
 Pea plants have many traits (tall/short, purple
recessive.
flowers/white flowers)
 Pea plants can be self-fertilized or cross-fertilized 3. Mendel’s Law of Independent Assortment
 He used pea plants because they have many
A. Traits are not inherited together.
traits that exist in only two forms. (tall/short,
green seed/yellow seed) and they were self B. In forming the gametes, the “Factors” for any two
pollinating traits assort independently from one another
First Experiment (P generation)  The genetic makeup of an organism is its
genotype
 He started with purebred (always produces
 Combination of alleles (Rr, rr, RR)
offspring with the same form of a trait as the
 The genetic makeup of an organism is its
parent)
genotype
 By using purebreds he knew that the offspring's
 Combination of alleles (Rr, rr, RR)
traits would always be identical to that of the
 Monohybrid Cross - crossing parents who differ
parents.
in only one trait (AA with aa)
2nd Experiment  Dihybrid Cross - crossing parents who differ in
two traits (AAEE with aaee)
 He allowed the F1 plants to self pollinate
 Punnett square - A useful tool to do genetic
 In the F2 generation there was a mix of tall and
crosses. For a monohybrid cross, you need a
short plants.
square divided by four. We use the Punnett
 This occurred even though the parents were all
square to predict the genotypes and phenotypes
tall.
of the offspring.
 He found that ¾ of the plants were tall and ¼ of
the plants were short.
 Mendel discovered that each trait is controlled by
two factors (alleles)
 Genes – factors that determine your traits
 Homozygous: When both alleles of a pair are
alike, or the same, the organism is said to be
homozygous for that characteristic.

AA = RED
aa = BLUE
 Heterozygous: When the two alleles in the pair
are different, the organism is heterozygous for
that characteristic. (Tt, Aa)

1. Mendel’s Law of Segregation

 Law of Segregation states that a pair of factors

(alleles) is segregated, or separated, during the
formation of gametes (reproductive cells)
 When two gametes combine during fertilization,
the offspring have two factors controlling a
specific trait (Gg)