Ariza Fontanilla G-8 Matapat

Gregor Mendel was an Austrian monk

who discovered the basic principles of
heredity through experiments in his garden.
Mendel's observations became the foundation
of modern genetics and the study of heredity,
and he is widely considered a pioneer in the
field of genetics.

Gregor Johann Mendel

“Father of Modern Genetics”
20 July 1822- 6 January 1884

Gregor Mendel, through his work on pea plants, discovered the fundamental laws
of inheritance. He deduced that genes come in pairs and are inherited as distinct units,
one from each parent. Mendel tracked the segregation of parental genes and their
appearance in the offspring as dominant or recessive traits. He recognized the
mathematical patterns of inheritance from one generation to the next. Mendel's Laws of
Heredity are usually stated as:
1) The Law of Segregation: Each inherited trait is defined by a gene pair. Parental genes are
randomly separated to the sex cells so that sex cells contain only one gene of the pair. Offspring
therefore inherit one genetic allele from each parent when sex cells unite in fertilization.
2) The Law of Independent Assortment: Genes for different traits are sorted separately from one
another so that the inheritance of one trait is not dependent on the inheritance of another.
3) The Law of Dominance: An organism with alternate forms of a gene will express the form that is
dominant.
The genetic experiments Mendel did with pea plants took him eight years (1856-1863)
and he published his results in 1865. During this time, Mendel grew over 10,000 pea
plants, keeping track of progeny number and type. Mendel's work and his Laws of
Inheritance were not appreciated in his time. It wasn't until 1900, after the rediscovery of
his Laws, that his experimental results were understood.

Why did Gregor Mendel choose garden peas in his series of

experiement?
Mendel can choose some other plant for experiments but he selected pea plant due to following reasons:
Easy to Cultivate: Pea plant (Pisum sativum) was easy to cultivate. It grew well in his garden.
Hermaphrodite: Its flowers were hermaphrodite I.e. pea plant have both male and female sexual organs.
Cross-fertilization (Cross-Pollination) Easily Controlled: It was normally self-fertilizing (self-pollinating)
that is the fertilization of plants and some invertebrate animals by their own pollen or sperm rather than
that of another individual, but could also be cross fertilized (cross-pollinated) that is the transfer of pollen
grains from an anther of a flower of one plant to a stigma of a flower of another plant of the same species.
Short Generation Time: As the time gap between generations was short, Mendel could raise many
generations of pea within a short time. This is one of the main reason for choosing Pea plant (Pisum
sativum).
Many Distinct Traits: Pea had many sharply distinct. Its each trait had two clear cut alternative forms or
varieties: e.g. seed shape had a round or wrinkled phenotype, plant height was either tall or short, seed
color could be yellow or green etc. Mendel called them pair of contrasting traits. He focused on seven
such contrasting pair of traits.

What are the characteristics of garden peas studied by

Mendel?
Transcript of Mendel's 7 characteristics of the Garden Pea
7 Characteristics;
Plant Height Seed Shape
Pod Shape Seed Color
Pod Color Flower Position
 Flower Color

1. Dominant Trait- In genetics, a trait that will appear in the offspring if one of the parents contributes it.
2. Receive Trait- In genetics, a trait that must be contributed by both parents in order to appear in the
offspring. Recessive traits can be carried in a person's genes without appearing in that person. For
example, a dark-haired person may have one gene for dark hair, which is a dominant trait, and one gene
for light hair, which is recessive. It is thus possible for two dark-haired parents to have a light-haired
child, provided each parent contributes a gene for light hair.
3. Gene- A gene is the basic physical and functional unit of heredity. Genes, which are made up of DNA,
act as instructions to make molecules called proteins. In humans, genes vary in size from a few hundred
DNA bases to more than 2 million bases. The Human Genome Project has estimated that humans have
between 20,000 and 25,000 genes.
4. Allele- An allele is one of a pair of genes that appear at a particular location on a particular chromosome
and control the same characteristic, such as blood type or color blindness. Alleles are also called
alleleomorphs.
5. Phenotype- the composite of an organism's observable characteristics or traits, such as its morphology,
development, biochemical or physiological properties, behavior, and products of behavior. A
description of your actual physical characteristics.
6. Genotype- the genetic makeup of an organism or group of organisms with reference to a single trait,
set of traits, or an entire complex of traits. The sum total of genes transmitted from parent to offspring.
7. Homozygous- having identical alleles at corresponding chromosomal location
8. Heterozygous -having dissimilar alleles at corresponding chromosomal location
9. Hybrid- an offspring of two animals or plants of different races, breeds, varieties, species.
10. Purebred- also called purebreds, are cultivated varieties or cultivars of an animal species, achieved
through the process of selective breeding.
11. F1- the first generation produced by a cross and consisting of individuals heterozygous for characters
in which the parents differ and are homozygous — called also first filial generation; compare f2
generation, p1 generation
12. F2- the generation produced by interbreeding individuals of an F1 generation and consisting of
individuals that exhibit the result of recombination and segregation of genes controlling traits for which
stocks of the P1 generation differ — called also second filial generation