Genetics

Main idea:Gregor Mendel used garden peas to illustrate the mechanisms of heredity.

Gregor johann mendel (1822-1884) is the father of genetics. He entered the monastery at the
age of 21 and became a priest four years later. He presented his work in pea plants at the
society for the Study of natural Science in 1866. However, the scientific community paid little
attention to his work. He died in 1884, disappointed that his research had not been recognized.
In 1900s, however, the scientific community accepted and acknowledged the importance of his
work. To date, the basic principles of genetic inheritance, as laid down by Gregor Mendel, are
still valid and remain the cornerstone of the study of genetics.
The scientific study of heredity started with the experiments of the Austrian priest gregor
johann mendel . mendel bred different varieties of garden peas and cross-pollinated flowers
that had clearly different forms of traits. Such contrasting expression or alternative forms of a
trait called ALLELES.
His experiments were considered cutting edge during his time because he did not only observe
the kind of offspring produced by a particular cross but also counted the number of each kind
(use of quantitive approach to science), analyzed his data, made generilizations, and proposed
explanations for his results. In 1866, after almost a decade of breeding experiments with garden
peas(PISUM SATIVUM)

MONOHYBRID INHERITANCE

A monohybrid cross involves the inheritance of one trait only.Mendel cross-polinated

garden peas with contrasting expressions. Inheritance involving one pair of contrasting
characters (alleles) is called monohybrid inheritance. Mendel crossed two pure-breeding
garden peas, one with a purple flower, the other with a white flower. This type of cross is
called MONOHYBIRD CROSS. Pure-breeding plants produce only one form of a particular
trait when they self-fertilize. These pure breeding plants served as the parental generation
in Mendels experiments. The parental generation (represented as P) are the first two
organisms that are crossed in a breeding experiment.
In the study of genetics, symbols are used to represent individual organisms. The two
pure-breeding parents (P generation) are represented with PP and pp for purple and
white, respectively. Often the first letter of either alleles is used as a symbol. The symbol
P and p represent the genotype of the individual.
A genotype is the gene that is responsible for the observed trait.
A phenotype is the observable expressions of the trait.