MENDELIAN LAWS OF

HEREDITY, MONOHYBRID
AND DIHYBRID CROSSES
 Gregor Johann Mendel
• July 22, 1822- 1884
• Austrian monk
• Experimented with pea plants
• He thought that ‘heritable factors’
(genes) retained their individuality
generation after generation
• 1856 – experimental crossing of
pea plants (Pisum sativum)
• 1865 – Presents his results in
transmission of phenotypic traits
between the generations
to the Brünn Society of Natural
Sciences.
• 1866 – Published his paper “Experiments on plant hybridization” in Vol.
4 of the proceedings of Natural Science Society.
• But due to failure to confirm or even to test his theory, his work went
unattended and unappreciated till 1900.
• Beginning of 20th century – three botanists
– Hugo de Vries (Oenothera)
– Correns (Peas and Maize)
– Von Tschermak (various flowering plants)
independently rediscovered Mendel’s work in 1900
• Mendel’s paper was republished in Flora in 1901
• Bateson confirmed Mendel’s work by a series of hybridization
experiments
Selection of experimental plant:
• Members of Leguminasae, most suitable material

• Easy to culture in open ground or in pots

• Had short growth periods and lifecycle (grows in a single season)

• Self – pollinating flowers of peculiar structure

• Contrasting heritable characters

• Easy to cross breed

• Pea plants have several advantages for genetics.
– Pea plants are available in many varieties with distinct heritable
features (characters) with different variants (traits).
– Another advantage of peas is that Mendel had strict control over
which plants mated with which.
– Each pea plant has male
(stamens) and female
(carpal) sexual organs.
– In nature, pea plants typically
self-fertilize, fertilizing ova
with their own sperm.
– However, Mendel could also
move pollen from one plant
to another to cross-pollinate
plants.
 Reasons for Mendel’s success

• Keeping adequate records

• Concentrated on only one characteristic at a time

• Recognized that the union of gametes in fertilization is a complex

process. This law of heredity must be statistical in its expression
 The pea plant showed clear cut differences for 34 varieties of which
Mendel used seven pairs of characters

Character Dominant Recessive

Shape of the seed Round and full Irregularly shaped and wrinkled
Colour of the Yellow Green
Cotyledons
Colour of the seed Grey to buff White
coat
Shape of the ripe Simply inflated Constricted between the seeds
pod
Colour of the unripe Light to dark Yellow
pod green
Position of flowers Axial Terminal
on the stem
Length of the stem Tall or long Short or dwarfs
 Terms to Know and Use

• Gene – A DNA blueprint controlling synthesis of a protein

• Trait - variant for a gene: i.e. a purple flower, determined by alleles
• Dominant trait - expressed over recessive trait when both are present
• Recessive trait - not expressed when the dominant trait is present
• Co-Dominant – expressed as blended traits
• Allele - a variation of a gene responsible for different traits, often
represented as A or a
• Locus - location of a gene,or allele, on a chromosome
• Chromosome - strand of DNA containing the genes
• Haploid - one copy of a chromosome
• Diploid - two copies of a chromosome
• Gamete - a spermatozoa or oocyte (egg) cell, they are haploid
• Zygote - cell resulting from the fusion of two gametes, they are
diploid
• Homozygous – carrying the identical alleles for a gene or genes of
interest
• Heterozygote – an individual with different alleles tat one or more
locus, such individuals will produce unlike gametes and therefore
will not breed true
• Genotype - the type of alleles on a chromosome: genetic makeup
• Phenotype - The way a genotype is expressed: i.e. the color of a
flower
• True breeding line - organisms that always pass the same genotype
to their offspring
• Hybrid - offspring resulting from crossbreeding two true breeding
lines: F1
• Monohybrid – the offspring of two homozygous parents that differ
in only one heritable gene locus
• Monohybrid cross – a cross between two parents that differ in only
one heritable character
• Dihybrid – have two pairs of different characters
• Dihybrid cross – a cross between two parents that differ in two
heritable characters
• Polyhybrid – have more than two pairs of different characters
• Test cross – crossing the progeny to the recessive parent in order to
determine whether the individual in question is heterozygous or
homozygous dominant for a certain allele
• Back cross – Crossing the progeny with any one of its parents
• Parental (P) generation: The plants with unlike characteristics in
which the artificial cross is made are called the parental generation
 Mendel's Laws of Inheritance
• Law of Segregation during gamete formation allele pairs separate
or segregate, into different gametes (Demonstrated with a “test
cross”).

• Law of Independent Assortment suggested that each allele pair

segregates independently of other gene pairs during gamete
formation (Demonstrated with a dihybrid cross).

• The phenomenon of dominance is erroneously considered as the

“Law of dominance”
 Law of Segregation

• Allelic genes in a zygote do not blend or contaminate each other but

segregate and pass into different gametes, so that each gamete
receives only one allele dominant or recessive

Monohybrid Cross
• Polled × Horned

polled F1
F1 × F1 (ineter –se-mating)

polled : horned F2
3 1
• Punnet Square : Reginald C Punnet

PP Pp
polled Polled
Pp pp
polled horned

• Phenotypes – Polled:Horned = 3:1

• Genotypes – PP : Pp : pp = 1:2:1
 Law of Independent Assortment

• During gamete formation, the alleles controlling one trait assort

independent of the alleles controlling the second trait i.e., the
segregation of alleles of one gene (locus) during gamete formation is
independent of the segregation of alleles of the second gene (locus).

• The dihybrid cross is the typical example.

• The results of a dihybrid cross, can be considered as two monohybrid
crosses conducted separately
• Ex: Two sets of traits being inherited independently of each other

Yellow/Green Round/Wrinkled
YY yy RR rr

F1 Yellow seeds Round

3:1 3:1

F2 ¾ × ¼ ¾ × ¼
yellow green round wrinkled
• Note that each of the two traits exhibits the 3:1 ratio expected from a
monohybrid cross

first trait – Yellow:Green = 12:4 or 3:1

second - Round:Wrinkled= 12:4 or 3:1

• F2 dihybrid ratio = 9 :3 :3 :1
Yellow Yellow Green Green
round wrinkled round wrinkled
• Thus F2 ratio is based on the product rule of probability which states
that the probability of occurrence of two independent events
occurring together is given by the product of their separate
probabilities