High School Biology/Mendelian Inheritance < High School Biology Based on Mendel's Investigations, Mendel proposed two laws

of inheritance which are now called Mendelian inheritance. The Mendelian inheritance explains how tra its may be inherited from the parents to the offspring. Law of Segregation The first law Mendel proposed is called the Law of Segregation. According to thi s law, every single visible trait (phenotype) is an outcome of a pair of alleles (genotype). Each parent may pass only one of the pair of alleles they posses to their offspring through a gamete. Thus, fertilization from two normal gametes r esults in pairs of different alleles in the offspring. Dominant alleles may be e xpressed over the recessive ones. Law of Independent Assortment The second law is called the Law of Independent Assortment. This law states that every trait in the offspring is inherited separately from the other traits thro ugh separate genes. In other words, an expression of one trait is independent of the expression of another. Mendel proved this idea by examining cross breed of plants with two different traits. This technique is also referred to dihybrid cr oss.