7-1 The Work of Gregor Mendel

- Heredity is the transmission of traits frrom parents to offspring.

- An Austrian Monk named Gregor Mendel studdied the properties of heredity in Pisium sativum.(Garden Variety Peas)

- The garden pea was good to study because:

1. ) Many varieties of peas show traits that are easily visible, such as shape, color, and height.
   
   
2. ) Mendel knew what to expect since he had noticed traits being displayed when he grew peas.
   
   
3. ) Peas are small and easy to grow. Mendel could collect results quickly.
   
   
4. ) Mendel could easily manipulate the reproductive parts of pea plants to control cross-pollination and self-pollination.

- Mendel's experiment had three main steps:

1. ) Mendel self-pollinated his plants for several generation to produce pure breeds for a particular trait. (true-breeding) He called these plants the P Generation.
   
   
2. ) Mendel Cross-pollinated plants with different traits to produce what he called the F1 Generation.
   
   
3. ) Then he self-pollinated these plants to study the traits of his F2 Generation.

- Through his experiments Mendel Discoveredd that the F1 Generation would only display one "Dominant" trait while the F2 generation produce pea plants with both dominant and recessive traits in a 3:1 ratio.

- The patterns that Mendel predicted with the traits of pea plants became the foundation for modern genetics.

1. ) Parents transmit genes to their offspring, which may affect the traits that are displayed.
   
   
2. ) If both genes are the same, the trait will be displayed. If the genes are different, the dominant trait will be displayed.
   
   
3. ) Phenotype determines physical traits, Genotype is a set of alleles. (genes)
   
   
4. ) An individual receives one gene from it's mother and one gene from it's father.
   
   
5. ) The presence of a gene does not mean that the characteristic will be displayed.