GENETICS
Objective:
At the end of the lesson, the students should be able to:
Explain the different Mendel’s Laws of Inheritance
MENDEL’S LAWS OF INHERITANCE
History of Genetics
Gregor Johann Mendel
- An Austrian monk who pioneered the study of Genetics.
- Father of genetics.
- He conducted the Pea Plant Experiment.
PEA PLANT EXPERIMENT
Gregor Mendel used the pea plant or garden pea (Pisum sativum). The process of his experiment is as
follows:
STEP 1: Establishing Pure-breeding lines
Mendel cultivated plants that consistently produced offspring with the same traits (e.g., all
purple or all white flowering plants) through self-pollination over several generations. These
were his "pure-breeding" lines which are then called the parental generation or P generation.
STEP 2: Cross-Pollination of Parental Generation
Mendel cross-pollinated two P generation plants that had contrasting trait, such as the purple
flowers and white flowers. Mendel called the offspring of the P generation as the First Filial
Generation or the F1 generation.
He then observed that only one trait appeared of the F1 generation which is the purple color of
the plants.
STEP 3: Self-Pollination of F1 Generation
Mendel allowed the F1 generation to self-pollinate. He called the offspring of the F1 generation
plants as the Second Filial Generation or F2 generation.
In the F₂ generation, the previously "hidden" trait (e.g., white flower of the pea plant)
reappeared.
What are the three laws of inheritance proposed by Mendel?
The three laws of inheritance proposed by Mendel include:
Law of Dominance
Law of Segregation
Law of Independent Assortment
Law of Dominance
Also known as Mendel’s first law of inheritance.
This law states that an organism that is heterozygous will only inherit dominant trait in the
phenotype. The alleles that are suppressed are called as the recessive traits while the alleles
that determine the trait are known as the dominant traits.
Law of Segregation
States that during the production of gametes, two pieces of each hereditary factor/paired unit
factor of alleles segregate so that offspring acquire one factor from each parent. In other words,
allele (alternative form of the gene) pairs segregate during the formation of gamete and re-unite
randomly during fertilization.
Law of Independent Assortment
This law states that genes do not influence each other about the sorting of alleles into gametes,
and every possible combination of alleles for every gene is equally likely to occur.
Independent assortment of genes can be illustrated by the dihybrid cross, a cross between two
true-breeding parents that express different traits for two characteristics.
Mendel observed that when peas with more that one trait were crossed, the offspring did not
always match the parents. This is because traits are inherited independently – this is the
principle of independent assortment.
VOCABULARY
Genetics – the study of heredity and genetic variation.
Heredity – passing of traits from parents to offspring.
Gene – basic unit of heredity. It expresses a specific trait or characteristic. (Ex. Eye color)
Allele – variant form of a gene. (Ex. Brown eye, blue eye, etc.)
F1 Generation – first filial generation
F2 Generation – second filial generation
Dominant trait – the trait that will appear on an individual; denoted in uppercase letters.
Recessive trait – the trait which can be suppressed by the dominant trait; denoted in lowercase letters.
Homozygous – means having two of the same allele, both dominant or both recessive (YY, yy).
Heterozygous – means having two different alleles, one dominant and one recessive.
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