Gregor Mendel

The Father of Genetics

1. Who was Gregor Mendel?
 He was an
Augustinian
monk who
later
became the
abbot of his
monastery.

The Abbey of Saint Thomas and its Church in the year 1926.
http://www.augnet.org/OrderStAugustineSECTION5/OrderHistory/OrderPlaces/Europe02/0331-Brno01.html
2. When & where was he born?
 He was born in 1822 in what is now
the Czech Republic.

http://www.oktours.cz/accommodation/hotels/czech/
3. What did Mendel do for a
living?
 He was educated as a math & science
teacher, and became interested in
botany (plants). He did research on
plants in the monastery.

4. What is his title?

 He is the “Father of Genetics.”
The abbey garden where Gregor Mendel conducted his experiments.

http://www.augnet.org/OrderStAugustineSECTION5/OrderHistory/OrderPlaces/Europe02/0331-Brno01.html
5. What species of plant did
he mainly study?
 He studied pea plants.

http://www.crop.cri.nz/home/products-
services/crop-production/index.jsp

6. What size plants did he study?

 He studied dwarf
(short) and tall
plants.
http://www.emc.maricopa.edu/faculty/
farabee/BIOBK/BioBookgenintro.html
7. What characteristics of the plants did he study
 Height (tall or short)
 Flower position (on side of stem or on top
of stem)
 Flower color (white or purple)
 Seed color (green or yellow)
 Seed shape (round or wrinkled)
 Seed pod color (yellow or green)
 Seed pod shape (inflated or constricted)
http://www.blc.arizona.edu/courses/181summer/11.html
8. How long did he study
these plants?
 He studied them for about 8 years.

9. What sparked his interest in these plants?

 He noticed that he got offspring with
different characteristics than their
parents, and he wanted to know why.
Genetic Vocabulary
 Genotype: the  Homozygous: same
genes, represented letters both upper
by 2 letters (tt, TT, case or both lower
Tt) case (TT, tt)
 Phenotype: the trait  Heterozygous:
or characteristic (tall different letters (Tt)
or short) hybrid
10. What happened when he
bred 2 pure dwarf plants (tt)?

Do the punnett square

Homozygous recessive
parents

t t
t tt tt
t tt tt
11. What happened when he
bred 2 pure tall plants (TT)?

Do the punnett square

Homozygous dominant
parents

T T
T TT TT
T TT TT
12. What happened when he
bred 1 pure dwarf with 1 pure
tall plant?

Do the punnett square

Homozygous recessive and
dominant parents

t t
T Tt Tt
T Tt Tt
13. What happened when he
bred the offspring of this
match (Tt)?

Do the punnett square

Heterozygous parents

T t
T TT Tt
t Tt tt
16. What is a true-breeder?
 Itis basically an organism that will
produce offspring which are identical
to it. (Pure-bred)

17. What is a non-true-breeder?

 It
is an organism whose offspring are not
necessarily identical to it.
18. Why did Mendel stop his
work?
 He became too stout to successfully tend
his plants, and he had increased
responsibilities due to his promotion to
head abbot. Also, although he had
published his findings in a scientific
journal in 1865, his work was ignored.

19. When did Mendel die?

 He died in 1884, unsuccessful & alone.
20. When was Mendel’s work
discovered?
 His work was not discovered until 1900,
when 3 other scientists who had been
looking at similar patterns stumbled upon
Mendel’s research. They rightfully gave
him credit as being the founding father
for this new field in science.
 Final Thoughts
1. What controls a person’s features or
characteristics?
 Genes
2. How do organisms get these
features/characteristics?
 They inherit them from each parent.
3. How many do they inherit from each
parent?
 ½ from each parent.
 Final Thoughts
4. How do genes “travel” and settle
down?
 They travel in pairs.
5. Why do some families have all brown
hair?
 That is probably a dominant trait in that
family.