The Father of

Genetics

Gregor Johann Mendel

Austrian monk
Studied the

inheritance of traits
in pea plants
Developed the laws
of inheritance
Mendel's work was
not recognized until
the turn of the 20th
century

Gregor Johann Mendel

Between 1856 and

1863, Mendel
cultivated and tested
thousands of pea
plants
He found that the

plants' offspring
retained traits of the
parents

Particulate Inheritance
Mendel stated that

physical traits are

inherited as
particles
Mendel did not
know that the
particles were
actually
Chromosomes &
4

Why peas, Pisum

sativum
?
Can be grown in a
small area
Produce lots of
offspring
Produce pure plants
when allowed to selfpollinate several
generations
Can be artificially
cross-pollinated

Mendel and His Peas

Mendel tested 7 traits:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

Flower color
Flower position
Seed color
Seed shape
Pod shape
Pod color
Plant height

http://www.fieldmuseum.org/exhibits/traveling_mendel.htm

Mendel and His Peas

Mendel crossed flowers that

were true-breeding for each

characteristic.
He crossed a purple (PP)
flowered plant with a white (pp)
flowered plant. (Parent
Generation)
http://biology.kenyon.edu/courses/biol114/KH_lecture_images/Mendel/Mendel.html

Mendel and His Peas

PurpleParent (PP)

The first

generation (F1)
of plants all had
purple flowers.

(Pp)

(Pp)

(Pp)

(Pp)

Where did the

white color go??

Mendel and His Peas

Mendel took two of

his first generation

(F1 x F1) purple
flowered plants and
crossed them
together.
In the second

generation (F2) he
had 3 purple flowered
plants, and 1 white
flowered plant.

PurpleParent (Pp)

(PP)

(Pp)

(Pp)

(pp)

Mendel and His Peas

Mendel noticed in the first

generation, all of the white flowers

seemed to disappear.
He called this a recessive trait.
The white color faded into the
background at first.
It showed up in the next
generation when he pollinated the
flowers.

Mendel and His Peas

The color (purple) that seemed

to mask over the recessive color

was named the dominant trait.

Mendel and His Peas

Mendel was responsible for figuring

out that each plant carried two sets

of instructions for each
characteristic (one from the mom
and one from the dad).
Like many scientists, his work was
not accepted until after his death.

Lets Review
1. If you crossed a truebreeding black rabbit with a
true-breeding white rabbit, all of
the offspring would be black.
Which trait is dominant in
rabbits: black fur or white fur?
2. Which trait is recessive?

Answer
Black Rabbit (BB)

The trait for

black fur is
dominant over
the trait for
white fur. The
white fur trait
is recessive.

(Bb)

(Bb)

(Bb)

(Bb)

http://www.buckeyevalleyfarms.freeservers.com/photo.html

Googles tribute to Mendel

July 2011

What Did Mendel Find?

He discovered different

laws and rules that explain

factors affecting heredity.

Rule of Unit Factors

Each organism has two

alleles for each trait

Alleles

- different forms of
the same gene
Genes - located on
chromosomes, they control
how an organism develops

Rule of Dominance
The trait that is observed in

the offspring is the dominant

trait (uppercase)
The trait that disappears in
the offspring is the
recessive trait (lowercase)

Law of Segregation
The two alleles for a trait

must separate when gametes

are formed
A parent randomly passes
only one allele for each trait
to each offspring

Law of Independent
Assortment

The genes for different

traits are inherited

independently of each other.

Mendel and His Peas

Vocabulary
1. Heredity- the passing of traits

from parent to offspring.

2. Self-pollinate- A plant is often
able to pollinate by itself because
it contains both the male and
female reproductive structures.
This only requires 1 parent.

Mendel and His Peas

3. True-breeding- all of the offspring
will have the same trait as the
parent when self-pollinated
4. First-generation- the very first set
of offspring from two parents
5. Dominant trait- the trait observed
when at least one dominant allele
for a characteristic is inherited

Mendel and His Peas

6. Recessive trait- a trait that is
apparent only when two recessive
alleles for the same characteristic
are inherited
7. Genes- a segment of DNA that
carries hereditary instructions and
is passed from parent to offspring
8. Alleles- multiple forms of the
same gene

Mendel and His Peas

9. Genotype- an organisms

inherited combination of alleles

10. Phenotype- an organisms
inherited appearance