MENDEL’S LAWS OF

INHERITANCE
EARLY BELIEFS ABOUT HEREDITY
Application of the principles of genetics
 Traced back to centuries ago in the breeding of plants and animals
 Farmers learned the importance of choosing ideal parent plants and
animals
 Mechanism of heredity and factors involved in the process remained
unknown for a long time
 people thought that the inheritance of traits was merely a blend of the
characteristics of parents
HIPPOCRATIC TREATISE ON THE SEED

Male semen is formed in numerous parts

of the body and is transported through
blood vessels to the testicles

Active “humors”

• bearers of hereditary traits drawn from various

parts of the body to the semen
 ARISTOTLE’S SEMEN
“Vital heat”
• male semen was formed from blood rather than from each
organ
• capacity to produce offspring of the same “form” as the parent
• generated offspring by cooking and shaping the menstrual
blood produced by the female, which was the “physical
substance” giving rise to an offspring
• Embryo developed from the initial “setting of the menstrual
blood by the semen into a mature offspring
1600-1850: DAWN OF MODERN BIOLOGY

• 1600 - William Harvey

• English anatomist
Theory of Epigenesis
• organism is derived from the substances in the egg, which
differentiate into adult structures during embryonic development
• new structures, such as body organs, are not present initially but
instead are formed de novo in the embryo
• Theory of preformation
• 17th to 18th century
• Sex cells contain a complete
miniature adult called
homunculus, perfect in
every form
MENDEL’S EXPERIMENTS
PHENOTYPE AND GENOTYPE
Phenotype
 Set of observable characteristics
Ex. The height of a garden pea plant can be phenotypically describe as
either tall or short

Genotype
 Refers to the genetic makeup pertaining to the trait.
Ex. Consider trait tall as denoted by allele (T) and trait small by the allele
(t) (e.g. TT, Tt, tt)
Dominant trait is represented by capital letter while small letter for
recessive trait.
 HOMOZYGOUS AND HETEROZYGOUS
GENOTYPE
HOMOZYGOUS
 Identical pair of alleles
 Homozygous dominant or homozygous recessive
 (e.g. RR or rr); also called pure
HETEROZYGOUS
 Mixed pair of alleles
 Expressed dominant trait
 (e.g. Rr); also called hybrid
 TYPES OF GENETIC CROSSES
 Monohybrid cross
cross involving a single trait
e.g. flower color
 Dihybrid cross
cross involving two traits
e.g. flower color & plant height
 PUNNETT SQUARE

Used to help solve

genetics problems
MENDEL’S PEA PLANT
EXPERIMENTS
 WHY PEAS, PISUM SATIVUM?

 Can be grown in a small area

 Produce lots of offspring
 Several varieties that have
observable, contrasting characteristics
 Produce pure plants when allowed
to self-pollinate several generations
 Can be artificially cross-pollinated
Mendel’s Experimental Results
Did the observed ratio match the
theoretical ratio?

The theoretical or expected ratio of plants producing

round or wrinkled seeds is 3 round :1 wrinkled
Mendel’s observed ratio was 2.96:1
The discrepancy is due to statistical error
The larger the sample the more nearly the results
approximate to the theoretical ratio
 GENERATION “GAP”
Parental P1 Generation = the parental generation in a
breeding experiment.
F1 generation = the first-generation offspring in a
breeding experiment. (1st filial generation)
From breeding individuals from the P1 generation
F2 generation = the second-generation offspring in a
breeding experiment.
(2nd filial generation)
From breeding individuals from the F1 generation
 FOLLOWING THE GENERATIONS

Cross 2 Results in Cross 2 Hybrids

Pure all Hybrids get
Plants Tt 3 Tall & 1 Short
TT x tt TT, Tt, tt
 PRINCIPLES OF INHERITANCE
Principle of Paired Unit Factors
 Characters are controlled by heredity particles called ‘unit
factors’ which come in pairs
 Traits did not blend
 Some invisible factors must determine each of the traits
 Merkmal (German word for character)
 Gene determines characteristics
 PARTICULATE INHERITANCE

Mendel stated that physical

traits are inherited as
“particles”
Mendel did not know that the
“particles” were actually
Chromosomes & DNA
LAW OF DOMINANCE AND RECESSIVENESS
In a cross of parents that are pure for contrasting traits, only
one form of the trait will appear in the next generation.
Organism inherits different alleles for the same trait
All the offspring will be heterozygous and express only the
dominant trait.
Pea plants in the F1 generation were just as tall the P
generation
 Allele for tallness is dominant allele
 Therefore, pea plants that have both alleles (tallness and
shortness), only the dominant allele is expressed.
 LAW OF SEGREGATION

Organism receives one allele from each parent

Alleles separate from each other in a process called
segregation
Genes are passed on from parents to offspring (reflects
the exact behavior of genes and chromosome)
Separation of homologous chromosome
Happens in metaphase I and Anaphase I
 LAW OF SEGREGATION

During the formation of gametes (eggs or

sperm), the two alleles responsible for a
trait separate from each other.
Alleles for a trait are then "recombined" at
fertilization, producing the genotype for
the traits of the offspring.
APPLYING THE LAW OF SEGREGATION
 LAW OF INDEPENDENT ASSORTMENT

Alleles for different traits are distributed to

sex cells (& offspring) independently of one
another.
This law can be illustrated using dihybrid
crosses.
 LAW OF INDEPENDENT ASSORTMENT
 describes how different genes independently separate from one
another when reproductive cells develop.