1.9 Mendel Flashcards
Who was Gregor Mendel?
Gregor Mendel was an Austrian monk. On his garden plot, he noted how characteristics in plants were passed from one generation to the next. The results of his research were published in 1866 and eventually became the foundation of modern genetics.
What did Mendel do? (3)
1) Mendel crossed a tall pea plant with a dwarf pea plant. All the offspring were tall.
2) So, Mendel took two of the tall plants from the first set of offspring and crossed them. This time, 75% of the offspring were tall but 25% were dwarf plants
3) Mendel realised that the height characteristics in pea plants were determined by separate “inherited factors” passed on from each parent. The ratios of tall and dwarf plants in the offspring showed that the factor for tall plants, T, was dominant over the factor for dwarf plants, t
How has our understanding of genetics advanced greatly since Mendel’s work?
Now, the study of genetics has advanced so much that scientists are even able to find out the order of nucleotides in an organism’s genome - this is called genome sequencing.
What can scientists use genome sequencing for?
Scientists can use genome sequencing to identify which parts of the genome control different characteristics.
What is an example of a characteristic that is controlled by more than one gene?
- Height: its influenced by DNA sequences in over 400 locations within our genome. Genetic variants in these locations interact with each other to determine how tall we will be
Once scientists have worked out which genetic variants influence different characteristics, they can use the information for a range of purposes such as…(2)
- To test whether people are susceptible to diseases that are influenced by genetic variants
- To modify organisms so they contain a specific gene
What did Mendel study?
Inheritance of different characteristics
What 3 traits did Mendel study?
- Height
- Colour of peas
- Colour of flowers
