9.

1 The Work of Gregor Mendel

Write all things in red, sequentially in your notebook

EQ: Who was Gregor Mendel and what things did he discover about heredity?

A tall pea plant (TT) is crossed/ Offspring get 1 gene for height When the two offspring are … the result is 3 tall plants and
bred to a short pea plant (tt) from each parent. The result crossed, however…
of this cross is ALL tall plants 1 short plant
(Tt)

1. How do you suppose it’s possible that a tall and a short plant produced two tall plants?
2. How do you suppose it’s possible that two tall plants produced tall AND short plants?
3. If a tall plant (Tt) were crossed with a short (tt) plant, what height do you suppose the offspring would be?

Heredity/Inheritance
• The passing of characteristics/traits from one generation to the next

Genetics
• The study of heredity/inheritance

Gregor Mendel (Austria)

• Sometimes referred to as the “Father of Genetics” since many of his conclusions are
still valid
• Studied science and math; worked as a priest and high school teacher
• Became a Monk
• In charge of the monastery gardens
• Experimented with pea plants
✓ They’re small, reproduce quickly, easy to grow, clear traits (one or the other)
✓ Pea plants are normally self-pollinating; asexual; make clone babies… but Mendel “mixed it up!”
✓ They can reproduce sexually
• Egg + Sperm = Baby plant (in a seed)
• Pollen = sperm
• Pistil = where egg is located
 ✓ Mendel’s peas came from several stocks.
• Some were only tall, only short, only green-seeded,
while another was only yellow-seeded
• For “fun,” Mendel used a paintbrush to transfer pollen
(sperm) from a specific plant to a different plant

P Generation
• The original generation (on which testing begins)
• “Parental” generation

F1 Generation
• The first offspring of the P Generation

Mendel’s F1 Generation
• To his surprise, ALL the offspring had characteristics of only one of the
parents (rather than a blend of tall and short = medium)
• He concluded:
➢ An individual’s traits are determined by “factors” (genes) that pass
from parents to offspring
➢ The Principle of Dominance: some gene forms are dominant (show
up more often) and others are recessive (are often masked by
dominant genes)

F2 Generation
• Offspring of F1 generation
• Stands for “Second Filial”
• When Mendel allowed the F1 generation to self-pollinate, the recessive
trait reappeared
• Mendel found that, although recessive traits did not appear in the F1
Generation, they showed up about 25% of the time in the F2 Generation
• This implied that the short gene had not “vanished,” but was still present
and masked by the other trait, being “silently” passed along
• Mendel inferred that, at some point, the recessive “factor”/gene must
have segregated /separated from the dominant tall allele.
• He correctly predicted the “separation” or “segregation” of alleles must
occur when the sex cells (gametes) were formed
 • The Law of Segregation states: During gamete formation (meiosis) different alleles (ie. tall & tall or tall
& short or short & short) separate into different sperm/eggs

Gene
• Genetic “recipe” for a specific protein
• ie. The DNA sequence that codes for height or color

Trait
• A specific characteristic (ie. seed color, height, location of flower)
• Coded by a specific gene(s) (that codes for the protein that makes the cells that make YOU!)

Alleles
• Different forms of traits that are coded by the same gene
• Tall vs. Short
• Green vs. Yellow vs. White

Dominant Allele/Trait
• “Stronger” trait
• Shows up as a trait even if paired with a recessive allele
ie. Tall Plant (dominant) x Short Plant (recessive) = Tall Babies
• Indicated using a Capital Letter (T)

Recessive Allele/Trait
• Is masked if paired with a dominant allele (short x tall = tall plants)
• Is only expressed if paired with another recessive allele (short x short = short plants)
• Represented with a lowercase letter (t)

1. Answer the EQ and update your notebook

2. Complete the following new vocabulary terms: (1) Heredity, (2) Genetics, (3)
Gregor Mendel, (4) P generation, (5) F1 generation, (6) F2 generation, (7) Law of
segregation, (8) Gene, (9) Trait, (10) Allele, (11) Dominant Allele, (12) Recessive
Allele