Info > Genetics > Mendel's genetic laws

Once upon a time (1860's), in an Austrian monastery, there lived a monk named Mendel, Gregor Mendel. Monks had a lot of time on their hands and Mendel spent his time crossing pea plants. As he did this over & over & over & over & over again, he noticed some patterns to the inheritance of traits from one set of pea plants to the next. By carefully analyzing his pea plant numbers (he was really good at mathematics), he discovered three laws of inheritance.

Mendel's Laws are as follows:

1. the Law of Dominance
2. the Law of Segregation
3. the Law of Independent Assortment

Now, notice in that very brief description of his work that the words "chromosomes" or "genes" are nowhere to be found. That is because the role of these things in relation to inheritance & heredity had not been discovered yet. What makes Mendel's contributions so impressive is that he described the basic patterns of inheritance before the mechanism for inheritance (namely genes) was even discovered.

Hail to the "Father of Genetics" !

My name is ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-Mendel.

There are a few important vocabulary terms we should iron-out before diving into Mendel's Laws.

GENOTYPE = the genes present in the DNA of an organism. We will use a pair of letters (ex: Tt or YY or ss, etc.) to represent genotypes for one particular trait. There are always two letters in the genotype because (as a result of sexual reproduction) one code for the trait comes from mama organism & the other comes from papa organism, so every offspring gets two codes (two letters).

Now, turns out there are three possible GENOTYPES - two big letters (like "TT"), one of each ("Tt"), or two lowercase letters ("tt"). Since WE LOVE VOCABULARY, each possible combo has a term for it.

When we have two capital or two lowercase letters in the GENOTYPE (ex: TTor tt) it's called HOMOZYGOUS ("homo" means "the same"). Sometimes the term "PURE" is used instead of homozygous.

When the GENOTYPE is made up of one capital letter & one lowercase letter (ex: Tt) it's called HETEROZYGOUS ("hetero" means "other"). Just to confuse you, a heterozygous genotype can also be referred to as HYBRID. OK?

Let's Summarize:

Genotype = genes present in an organism (usually abbreviated as two letters)
TT = homozygous = pure	Tt = heterozygous = hybrid	tt = homozygous = pure

PHENOTYPE = how the trait physically shows-up in the organism. Wanna know the simplest way to determine an organism's phenotype ? Look at it. Examples of phenotypes: blue eyes, brown fur, striped fruit, yellow flowers.

ALLELES = (WARNING - THIS WORD CONFUSES PEOPLE; READ SLOW) alternative forms of the same gene. Alleles for a trait are located at corresponding positions on homologous chromosomes.
Remember just a second ago when explaining genotypes I said that "one code (letter) comes from ma & one code (letter) comes from pa"? Well "allele" is a fancy word for what I called codes.

For example, there is a gene for hair texture (whether hair is curly or straight). One form of the hair texture gene codes for curly hair. A different code for of the same gene makes hair straight. So the gene for hair texture exists as two alleles --- one curly code, and one straight code.

Let's try & illustrate with a diagram.

In this picture the two "hot dog" shapes represent a pair of homologous chromosomes. Homologous chromosomes are the same size & have the same genetic info (genes). Each letter in the diagram stands for an allele (form of a gene). What's important to notice is that the letters can be in different forms (capital or lowercase) --- that is what we mean by allele --- and that the letters are lined-up in the same order along each hot dog --- I mean homologous chromosome. The "a-forms" are in corresponding positions, so are the "B-forms", the "c" alleles, the "d" alleles, etc. etc. OK?
Reread that "allele" definition again & study the picture.

Getting back to our abbreviations, we could use a "C" for the curly allele, and a "c" for the straight allele. A person's genotype with respect to hair texture has three possiblilties: CC, Cc, or cc. So to review some vocab, homozygous means having two of the same allele in the genotype (2 big or 2 little letters --- CC or cc). Heterozygous means one of each allele in the genotype (ex: Cc).

Now I could tell you which genotypes create curls & which do not, but then I'd be stealing some of Mr. Mendel's thunder. More on that in a minute ........

Vocabulary Review Questions

1. Which of the following is a possible abbreviation for a genotype?

A. BC
B. Pp
C. Ty
D. fg

2. What is the best way to determine the phenotype of the feathers on a bird?

A. analyze the bird's DNA (genes)
B. look at the bird's feathers
C. look at the bird's beak
d. examine the bird's droppings

3. Which of the following pairs is not correct?

A. kk = hybrid
B. hybrid = heterozygous
C. heterozygous = Hh
D. homozygous = RR

4. The genes present in an organism represent the organism's __________.

A. genotype
B. phenotype
C. physical traits

5. Which choice represents a possible pair of alleles?

A. k & t
B. K & T
C. K & k
D. K & t

6. How many alleles for one trait are normally found in the genotype of an organism?

A. 1
B. 2
C. 3
D. 4

7. Which statement is not true?

A. genotype determines phenotype
B. phenotype determines genotype
C. a phenotype is the physical appearance of a trait in an organism
D. alleles are different forms of the same gene

Answers

1. Which of the following is a possible abbreviation for a genotype?

A. BC
B. Pp - genotypes are made up of 2 of the same letter (either 2 capital, 2 lowercase, or one of each)
C. Ty
D. fg

2. What is the best way to determine the phenotype of the feathers on a bird?

A. analyze the bird's DNA (genes)
B. look at the bird's feathers - "phenotype of the feathers" means what the feathers look like, so look at 'em
C. look at the bird's beak
d. examine the bird's droppings

3. Which of the following pairs is not correct?

A. kk = hybrid - Kk would be hybrid (one capital, one lowercase of the same letter)
B. hybrid = heterozygous
C. heterozygous = Hh
D. homozygous = RR

4. The genes present in an organism represent the organism's __genotype___.

A. genotype
B. phenotype
C. physical traits

5. Which choice represents a possible pair of alleles?

A. k & t
B. K & T
C. K & k - allele means 2 forms of the same gene. so this choice shows 2 forms of the same letter K or k
D. K & t

6. How many alleles for one trait are normally found in the genotype of an organism?

A. 1
B. 2 - one allele is inherited from each parent
C. 3
D. 4

7. Which statement is not true?

A. genotype determines phenotype (note that the environment does play a role in influencing phenotype too)
B. phenotype determines genotype
C. a phenotype is the physical appearance of a trait in an organism
D. alleles are different forms of the same gene

Part I Part II Part III