PATTERNS OF

MENDELIAN
INHERITANCE
MODULE 4
 MENDEL AND
HIS GARDEN PEAS
• Gregor Mendel was an
Augustinian monk in a
monastery in Brünn, Austria-
Hungarian Empire (now Brno,
Czech Republic).
 MENDEL AND
HIS GARDEN PEAS
• He was interested in investigating how
individual traits were inherited.
• He wanted to find out whether both
parents contributed equally to the traits of
the offspring and if the traits present in
the offspring were produced by the
blending of the traits of the parents.
 MENDEL AND
HIS GARDEN PEAS
• Using the garden in the monastery,
he performed series of breeding
experiments involving garden pea
plant (Pisum sativum).
 MENDEL’S EXPERIMENT
Mendel conducted his experiments on garden peas using three
steps:
First:
Production of the pure-breeding strains of pea plants. He
allowed several populations of garden pea plants to self-pollinate
for many generations until he was able to gather seeds that
produced only one particular trait.
 MENDEL’S EXPERIMENT
Second:
The crossing of two different varieties of pure breeding strains. He
took pollens from the anther of the purple-colored flower and
transferred them into the stigma of the white-colored flower. He called
these two varieties of garden peas as the P1 or first parental generations.
When the garden peas produced seeds, he gathered and planted them
separately. Mendel found out that that the garden peas all produced
purple-colored flowers. He labeled the first set of offspring as F1 or first
filial generation. The second phase of Mendel’s work can be
summarized as:
MENDEL’S EXPERIMENT
 MENDEL’S EXPERIMENT
Third:
The crossing of the F1 generations. Finally, Mendel pollinated the
F1 generation. He called this as the P2 or second parental generations.
Likewise, he gathered and planted the seeds. When the seeds
germinated and produced flowers, he noticed that 75% of the garden
peas had purpled-colored flowers and the 25% had white-colored
flowers. He labelled this second set of offspring as the F2 or second
filial generation. The white colored-flowers that did not appear in the F1
generation appeared in a ratio of 3:1. This third phase can be
summarized as:
MENDEL’S EXPERIMENT
 MENDELIAN PRINCIPLES
 THE LAW OF COMPLETE DOMINANCE
When a pure breeding parent carrying a “stronger”
characteristic is crossed or bred with another pure breeding parent
carrying a “weaker” characteristic, their offspring will carry or
manifest the “stronger” characteristic possessed by one parent. In
phase 2 of Mendel’s work, the purple-color manifested among the
F1 generation. Therefore, purple color is dominant characteristics.
The white color that did not manifest is the recessive
characteristic.
 MENDELIAN PRINCIPLES
 THE LAW OF COMPLETE DOMINANCE
The non-appearance of the recessive characteristic
does not mean it was totally lost. Mendel
hypothesized that it was just hidden and masked by
the dominant purple color. The third phase of his
experiment proved that he was right. The recessive
white color appeared even in a small percentage.
MENDELIAN PRINCIPLES
 MENDELIAN PRINCIPLES
 PRINCIPLE OF ALLELISM
The characteristics carried by any organism are controlled by “genes”,
Mendel did not know yet anything about genes during his time. According to
him, the characteristics of an organism are determined by certain factors, which
he described as elemente. These factors are in pairs. Now we know that a pair of
genes is called alleles. Capital or upper-case letters represent dominant genes,
and the lower-case letters represent recessive genes. In the case of the pure
breeding parents (P1), purple color is represented by PP and white color is
represented by pp. If the pair of alleles is the same (PP or pp), it is a homozygous
pair; if the pair of alleles is unlike (Pp), it is a heterozygous pair. The upper-case
letter always written before the lower-case letter.
 MENDELIAN PRINCIPLES
PRINCIPLE OF ALLELISM
A genotype is an individual's collection of genes.
The term also can refer to the two alleles inherited for
a particular gene. The genotype is expressed when the
information encoded in the genes' DNA is used to
make protein and RNA molecules.
 MENDELIAN PRINCIPLES
PRINCIPLE OF ALLELISM

The expression of the genotype contributes to the

individual's observable traits, called the phenotype.
 MENDELIAN PRINCIPLES
 THE LAW OF SEGREGATION AND RECOMBINATION
During gamete-formation (gametogenesis), the pair of genes
randomly segregates. Under normal conditions, one and only one
member of a pair of genes goes to a gamete. It is only during the
process of fertilization that genes/alleles recombine. As a result,
new gene combinations are produced. Segregations and
recombination of genes happen when two individuals heterozygous
for a trait are crossed as shown in the crossing of the F1 offspring.
 MENDELIAN PRINCIPLES
THE LAW OF INDEPENDENT
ASSORTMENT
If the genes for two different traits are locked
on a different chromosome (non homologous
chromosomes), they segregate randomly during
meiosis and may be inherited independent of
each other.
MONOHYBRID AND DIHYBRID
Two types of breeding methods are used to
know the working of gene and analyze how
certain traits are inherited from grandparents
and parents. They are monohybrid and
dihybrid.
MONOHYBRID AND DIHYBRID
A monohybrid cross is defined as the
cross happening in the F1 generation
offspring of parents differing in one
trait only.
MONOHYBRID AND DIHYBRID
A dihybrid cross is a cross happens F1
generation offspring of differing in two
traits.
It can be best explained using a simple and
handy diagram called Punnett Square
introduced by Reginald Punnett, a British
geneticist.
MONOHYBRID AND DIHYBRID
 THE BIRTH OF THE SCIENCE OF
• Mendel’s work enabled people to see that characteristics can be
passed on from the parentsGENETICS
to their offspring.
• Mendel spent eight years and had used 30,000 pea plant species to
discover these natural laws of heredity, which is now popularly
known as the Mendelian Laws.
• However, no one acknowledged his work because he was only an
amateur and not even a qualified teacher.
• Forty years after his death in 1884, his research was rediscovered,
tested, and proven to be true.
 THE BIRTH OF THE SCIENCE OF
• The rediscovery marked the beginning of the
GENETICS
analytical study of heredity.
• It gave birth to genetics as a new science, founded on
Mendel’s findings that makes him the Father of
Genetics.
• Genetics also includes the study of genes and
chromosomes and their properties and behavior in
cells, individuals, and the populations.
THANK
YOU!
 GENOTYPE
A unique sequence of DNA.

A genotype refers to the two alleles an organism has

inherited for a particular gene.

Alleles can be recessive or dominant

(More on this in a moment!)
 PHENOTYP
E
An observable trait

Phenotype is a result of the expression

of one or more genes.

For example, a phenotype could be:

Brown hair, AB blood type or blue eye colour
 DOMINANT
Only ONE allele is needed for the trait to be expressed.

RECESSIVE
TWO alleles are needed for the trait to be expressed.
There are 4 main types of
genetic inheritance:
• Dominant
• Recessive
• Codominance
• Incomplete Dominance
 DOMINANT
White with brown spots is a dominant trait.

If the cow has one or two dominant alleles, it will be

white with brown spots.
 RECESSIVE
All white is a recessive trait.

If the cow has two recessive alleles, it will be all

white in colour.
 CODOMINANCE
Both alleles of a gene are distinctly expressed.

Red and white show codominance.

If a plant has both a recessive and dominant gene, it

will be red with white spots.
 INCOMPLETE
DOMINANCE
Both alleles are partially expressed in an intermediate phenotype.

The colour pink shows incomplete dominance.

If a plant has both a recessive and dominant gene, it

will be a mix of red and white (pink).