Mendel's Experiments with Peas: Understanding Genetic Inheritance

What were the results of Mendel's experiments with peas?

1. In the F1 generation, what percentage of plants had yellow seeds?

2. In the F2 generation, what percentage of plants had yellow seeds and what percentage had green seeds?

Answers:

1. In the F1 generation, 100% of the plants had yellow seeds.

2. In the F2 generation, 75% of the plants had yellow seeds and 25% had green seeds.

Gregor Mendel, known as the father of modern genetics, conducted experiments with pea plants to study genetic inheritance. He crossed plants with yellow and green seeds and observed their offspring in different generations.

Explanation:

In the F1 generation, Mendel observed that all plants had yellow seeds. This indicates that the plants in the F1 generation were identical to the parent plants. This is because the yellow seed trait is dominant, while the green seed trait is recessive. As a result, the yellow seeds appeared in all plants in the F1 generation.

For the F2 generation, Mendel found that 75% of the plants had yellow seeds and 25% had green seeds. This 3:1 ratio is a result of the segregation of alleles during meiosis. The yellow seeds were either homozygous dominant (YY) or heterozygous (Yy), while the green seeds were homozygous recessive (yy).

These findings from Mendel's experiments laid the foundation for our understanding of genetic inheritance patterns and the principles of dominance and recessiveness in traits. By studying pea plants, Mendel was able to uncover the fundamental laws of inheritance that continue to shape genetics research today.