9.1 The Work of Gregor Mendel: EQ: Who Was Gregor Mendel and What Things Did He Discover About Heredity
9.1 The Work of Gregor Mendel: EQ: Who Was Gregor Mendel and What Things Did He Discover About Heredity
9.1 The Work of Gregor Mendel: EQ: Who Was Gregor Mendel and What Things Did He Discover About Heredity
EQ: Who was Gregor Mendel and what things did he discover about heredity?
A tall pea plant (TT) is crossed/ Offspring get 1 gene for height When the two offspring are … the result is 3 tall plants and
bred to a short pea plant (tt) from each parent. The result crossed, however…
of this cross is ALL tall plants 1 short plant
(Tt)
1. How do you suppose it’s possible that a tall and a short plant produced two tall plants?
2. How do you suppose it’s possible that two tall plants produced tall AND short plants?
3. If a tall plant (Tt) were crossed with a short (tt) plant, what height do you suppose the offspring would be?
Heredity/Inheritance
• The passing of characteristics/traits from one generation to the next
Genetics
• The study of heredity/inheritance
P Generation
• The original generation (on which testing begins)
• “Parental” generation
F1 Generation
• The first offspring of the P Generation
Mendel’s F1 Generation
• To his surprise, ALL the offspring had characteristics of only one of the
parents (rather than a blend of tall and short = medium)
• He concluded:
➢ An individual’s traits are determined by “factors” (genes) that pass
from parents to offspring
➢ The Principle of Dominance: some gene forms are dominant (show
up more often) and others are recessive (are often masked by
dominant genes)
F2 Generation
• Offspring of F1 generation
• Stands for “Second Filial”
• When Mendel allowed the F1 generation to self-pollinate, the recessive
trait reappeared
• Mendel found that, although recessive traits did not appear in the F1
Generation, they showed up about 25% of the time in the F2 Generation
• This implied that the short gene had not “vanished,” but was still present
and masked by the other trait, being “silently” passed along
• Mendel inferred that, at some point, the recessive “factor”/gene must
have segregated /separated from the dominant tall allele.
• He correctly predicted the “separation” or “segregation” of alleles must
occur when the sex cells (gametes) were formed
• The Law of Segregation states: During gamete formation (meiosis) different alleles (ie. tall & tall or tall
& short or short & short) separate into different sperm/eggs
Gene
• Genetic “recipe” for a specific protein
• ie. The DNA sequence that codes for height or color
Trait
• A specific characteristic (ie. seed color, height, location of flower)
• Coded by a specific gene(s) (that codes for the protein that makes the cells that make YOU!)
Alleles
• Different forms of traits that are coded by the same gene
• Tall vs. Short
• Green vs. Yellow vs. White
Dominant Allele/Trait
• “Stronger” trait
• Shows up as a trait even if paired with a recessive allele
ie. Tall Plant (dominant) x Short Plant (recessive) = Tall Babies
• Indicated using a Capital Letter (T)
Recessive Allele/Trait
• Is masked if paired with a dominant allele (short x tall = tall plants)
• Is only expressed if paired with another recessive allele (short x short = short plants)
• Represented with a lowercase letter (t)