The Work Of Mendel Flashcards
who is gregor mendel
an austrian monk who trained in mathematics and natural history
what did mendel note when observing his garden plot
how characteristics in plants were passed on from one generation to the next
describe mendels main experiments showing genetic dominance and recession
- crossed a tall and short pea plant
- the off spring produced were all tall pea plants
- then bred two tall pea plants from that bunch
- found that three tall pea plants were produced for every one short pea plant
- ratio of 3:1 of tall to short plants
what did mendels experiment discover
- the height characteristic in pea plants was determined by separately inherited hereditary units passed from each parent
- ratio showed that the unit for tall pea plants was dominant over the unit for small pea plants
what other characteristic supported mendels discovery during the experiment
he found that a purple flower colour was dominant over a white colour
what are characteristics in plants determined by
hereditary units
how are hereditary units passed on
- to the off spring unchanged from both parents
- one unit from each parent
what types of hereditary units are there
dominant or recessive
which characteristic will be expressed if someone has both a dominant and a recessive unit
the dominant characteristic
what do we now call hereditary units
genes
in mendels experiment what was the result of breeding one tall and short pea plant
all of the offspring were tall pea plants
in the second part of mendels experiment what was the result of breeding one tall and short pea plant
1 out of 4 of the off spring were short pea plants
why was mendels findings unknown back in the day
- scientists didnt have the background knowledge to properly understand his findings
- they had no idea about genes or chromosomes
