Chapter 2.1: Background: The Historical Puzzle of Inheritance

Question 1

Define genes

Answer 1

basic units of biological info

Question 2

Define genetics

Answer 2

the science of heredity

Question 3

What is the idea that parental traits become mixed and forever changed in offspring?

Answer 3

blended inheritance

Question 4

What is purposeful control over mating by choice of parents for the next generation?

Answer 4

artificial selection

Question 5

What are the 4 themes of Mendel’s work?

Answer 5

 Variation is widespread in nature
 Observable variation is essential for following genes from one generation to the next
 Variation is not distributed solely by chance
 Applies to all sexual reproducing organisms

Question 6

What type of fertilization happens when two individuals mate by brushing pollen from one plant onto a female organ of another plant (Mendel used)?

Answer 6

cross-fertilization

Question 7

What do pure-breeding line produce?

Answer 7

• Pure-breeding (or true-breeding) lines produce offspring carrying specific parental traits that remain constant from generation to generation

Question 8

What is the science of heredity?

Answer 8

genetics

Question 9

Define self-fertilization

Answer 9

both egg and pollen come from the same plant

Question 10

Define heredity

Answer 10

the way genes transmit physiological, anatomical, and behavioral traits from parents to offspring

Question 11

Define hybrids

Answer 11

offspring of genetically dissimilar parents, for each pair of antagonistic traits

Question 12

Define blended inheritance

Answer 12

the idea that parental traits become mixed and forever changed in offspring

Question 13

What is the hypothesis that Mendel’s laws are based on?

Answer 13

o Mendel’s laws are based on the hypothesis that observable traits are determined by independent units of inheritance

Question 14

Define cross-fertilization

Answer 14

two individuals mate by brushing pollen from one plant onto a female organ of another plant (Mendel used)

Question 15

What is the way genes transmit physiological, anatomical, and behavioral traits from parents to offspring?

Answer 15

heredity

Question 16

Define artificial selection

Answer 16

purposeful control over mating by choice of parents for the next generation

Question 17

Why did Mendel use the garden pea?

Answer 17

grew well and large reproductive yield

Question 18

Describe Mendel’s Experiment

Answer 18

 Garden pea (grew well and large reproductive yield)
• Self-fertilization: both egg and pollen come from the same plant
• Cross-fertilize: two individuals mate by brushing pollen from one plant onto a female organ of another plant (Mendel used)
 Examined the inheritance of clear-cut alternative forms of particular traits
 Collected and perpetuated lines of peas that bred true
• Pure-breeding (or true-breeding) lines produce offspring carrying specific parental traits that remain constant from generation to generation
• Hybrids: offspring of genetically dissimilar parents, for each pair of antagonistic traits
 Controlled his matings

Question 19

What were the two main misconceptions of heredity prior to Mendel?

Answer 19

 One parent contributes most to an offspring’s inherited features
 Blended inheritance: the idea that parental traits become mixed and forever changed in offspring

Question 20

What are the basic units of biological info?

Answer 20

genes

Question 21

What type of fertilization happens when both egg and pollen come from the same plant?

Answer 21

self-fertilization

Question 22

What are offspring of genetically dissimilar parents, for each pair of antagonistic traits?

Answer 22

hybrids